


Fighting In The Streets

by geddiknight



Series: Fighting In The Streets [1]
Category: Mario Kart (Video Games), Mario Strikers Charged (Video Game), Super Mario & Related Fandoms, Super Mario Galaxy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Racing, Gen, Politics, Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:16:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 62,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28672854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geddiknight/pseuds/geddiknight
Summary: In a more realistic, planned-out, but dystopian universe, Bowser's reign over the lands has come to an end after being caught during a siege. At his mercy, the no-longer King has been granted a trial that has been set to shake everyone in the lands, the world's greatest racing tournament to date. If Bowser wins, he is set free with all of his privileges. If he loses, he is to be executed.At the same time due to Bowser's reign coming to an end, Princess Peach, now newly self-titled Queen Peach, begins to change the lands she rules over for the better to adjust for the changing times for everybody. She beings to deal with all of the other small problems facing her lands at the same time, such as the rest of Bowser's armies deserting him and living in anarchy. What we see in this work is how the inhabitants of the land adapt to the new changes to the world and how everybody handles it. Will some go with it? Or will some stand up against the changes and try to take charge themselves? Contains many canon characters as well as some OCs.NOTE: This is a Sequel work to the three works: Speed Dials, and the two OC Introductory stories. Reading or flicking through the prequels is recommended, but not essential.
Series: Fighting In The Streets [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2101428
Comments: 3
Kudos: 2





	1. Donkey Bingo

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE: This has been moved from Fanfiction.net to here, it will no longer update here and chapters for this book will be released almost weekly. I will be keeping up with this pace given how many chapters are currently published on the other site.
> 
> This is a Sequel to:  
> Tom's Adventure through Time  
> Enrique's Bounty Hunting  
> Speed Dials (set just before)
> 
> YEARS BY CHAPTER:  
> 2015: 1-3  
> 2017: 4- ~8  
> 2018: 9-18  
> 2019: 19-23  
> 2020: 24-44  
> 2021: 45-
> 
> By the time the first chapter is released, chapter 45 is currently in the works. There are expected to be 80.

“With the Princesses and the Mario Brothers given full power of the Mushroom Kingdoms and the North has been ceased to an acceptable level, Bowser has been surrounded and placed on trial following his last days to live. What he decides it to be attracts famous characters from all over the lands to participate in the world’s biggest Double Dash Tournament to Date including 16 duos. If Bowser wins, he is set free. At the same time, many other characters face new experiences without having the main antagonist with power. Will their fate be the same as Bowser’s? Includes many fan favourite characters.”  
Fighting In the Streets  
Chapter 1 – Donkey Bingo

Disclaimer: I do not own Nintendo belongings.

A/N: It would be 100% more understanding if you have read Speed Dials and the Two Origins; this is the Sequel to all of them. If you have read them, go straight ahead and that’s completely fine. If you haven’t and are probably not bothered to then that’s a bit depressing – shame on you!

I recommend reading them before this but if you still are not bothered then here’s a quick background. This contains SPOILERS of the other fanfics so once again, I advise to read the others, and you would get a bit confused when reading this. This fanfic is set during events that occur after Rhonaward’s arrest, the Résethal riots were ceased in 2010(2) but only stopped just after January 2015(1), Bowser is almost on the edge of loss to the Mushroom Kingdom, but before he is sentenced to *achoo!* he is allowed to do one thing before he cannot do anything anymore. Some of the parts of this chapter may be a bit lecturing but it is still obligatory to read them.

Although I have already typed around 200 words, I don’t care you need to get it in your head. Let’s start the fanfic.

Part One – Everyday Lives.  
January 5, 2015(1), 8:50PM  
Showtime.  
He rotated to his right, investigating any equipment that may be of use in his job. A slight tickle of green booger dashed down his cupid bow while he stretched from his stool to grab his tiny red tie. After spending over a minute trying to eventually put it on, he jumped upwards and landed on his stool on all fours, rotating to his right so the far right of his right eye could notice anybody who he would expect to be behind him.  
Nobody.  
After jumping up and doing a 180degree turn to the right, he glanced along what seemed to be an endless corridor of rooms. Suddenly, he started to hear banging noises from the room next to him.  
“Useless, Malfunctioning, Machine!” A rather Toad-ish voice whined across the entire area. He got up and crawled along the floor, investigating the room next to his. He could hear more banging on what he presumed was the machine that was causing all of the kafuffle. Nervously, he opened the door and then slowly rolled his eyes in relief. He had realised that the source of the loud noises was just a printer.  
“A printer?” He opened the door widely and jumped up onto a stool.  
“Mister Kong, it’s good to see you’re ready before I am.” The Blue Toad flicked up his glasses and looked at Donkey Kong.  
“Have you printed out the sheets?” He asked quickly while looking to the right along the corridor which led to the main room of the building he was in.  
“That’s the thing; the printer does not seem to be working.” He turned around and climbed onto the table, investigating all sides of the printer, which did not actually look broken.  
“Toadbert! We’re going to have to cancel it.” Donkey Kong turned back to the printer in annoyance. He jumped off of his stool and hopped across the corridor towards the stage which was in another room. He jumped up onto it and glared at the several elderly Toad citizens sitting at tables, all bored, some sleeping and some standing up totally clueless.  
“Ladies and Gentlemen, due to the poor productivity of our printer, we’re going to have to cancel Bingo tonight.” Donkey Kong spoke through the microphone; surprisingly, there were no ranting Toads.  
“We’re playing Bingo?” One of the Toads who seemed to have short memory questioned Donkey Kong as he sat back down on his chair.  
“Bingo? I thought this was Old Koopish Language Club.” The Toads began to get up and leave the building, all proceeding home. Donkey Kong turned to his right where he saw Toadbert with his right thumb up. Donkey Kong raised his left arm and slowly walked back to the room that he was in two minutes ago, at this point in time he was actually relieved that Toadbert said nothing; he had a feeling that if he did, he wouldn’t be seeing him for a while.  
“I guess it’s time to go.” Donkey Kong hopped towards his belongings which lay on the left corner of his ‘preparation’ room and picked them up weirdly.  
“This is the life.” Toadbert giggled anxiously as he unplugged the disturbing printer and grabbed his twenty-centimetre rucksack with all of his belongings and departed the building with Donkey Kong. The two travelled for three minutes along the suburban roads of Mushroom City, until they came across the car park.  
“Good night Toadbert, see you tomorrow.” Donkey Kong got his keys out and slowly separated from Toadbert, who decided to walk home on this night. Whereas Donkey Kong opened the boot of his car and shoved his preparation items inside of it, he swiped the few sweat droplets from his forehead and closed the car boot quickly. He noticed a vague human reflection from the window of his car and noticed that it was actually a human.  
“Bingo, Bingo.” The human remarked as Donkey Kong remained staring at the window for a while. “Is this what you do now, for a living?” The human continued as he walked over towards Donkey Kong’s car only to get a better look at his face rather than looking at the window to see a silhouette.   
“Who are you supposed to be?” Donkey Kong finally turned around and stared at the human.  
“That’s what I thought you said.” He laughed as he scratched his nose.  
“My job is a caring job, I host the Bingo for the Toad pensioners, it’s one of the lowest paid jobs in the whole kingdom, and because of the absence of Bowser, I am only getting twenty coins a month, which in Toad circumstances it is like fifty pounds a week. I will ask again, who are you supposed to be?” Donkey Kong’s voice changed elaborately as he looked directly into the human’s eyes.  
“Who am I, my name is Tom Tûnis, and I am the guy who technically ruined your life...”

Donkey Kong did absolutely nothing for the next few minutes besides keep staring at the human. However, sweat began to race down his face as he continued staring.  
“T-thanks to you, I haven’t got a well-paying job.” He shivered as he walked around his car towards the driver’s seat door.  
“Not just me, there’s another human that kind of helped as well, but he’s gone back to the real world.” Tom stated as he walked to the other side of the car. Donkey Kong looked through the two windows of the car, noticing Tom, making his eyelids drop until he could still just about see.  
“Get in.” He said depressingly as he opened the door to the pre-owned Fiat 500. The two jumped into the vehicle and drove out of the car park and into Toad’s Turnpike.  
“Well then.” Tom began. “I must say working for Bowser doesn’t really count as a job, earning over ten thousand coins a year for throwing a few barrels and eating a few bananas every now and then, there’s no effort in it.  
“How do you get YOUR money then?” Donkey Kong asked with a much louder voice.  
“I don’t have a job; I retired from serving the princess just after I stopped the riots. I live on the blocks, and I can easily get twenty coins a day if you go out of the cities. Or maybe Bowser is going to donate all of his money, by money he means what he has left.  
“You know what will happen to him?”  
“Vaguely, I heard that Princess Peach is going to dine on his heart with a sword as she slices it through his corpse, if that happens.” Tom proclaimed as the car changed lanes.  
“Turn off on the next left.” He asked as Donkey Kong steered the wheel going to the Mushroom City circuit track.  
“Didn’t he say he was going to announce it tomorrow?” Donkey Kong wondered as he once again switched lanes. He had the urge to speed on the road like he tended to do in most Karting events, but this time he kept a slow pace. Suddenly the car began to slow down due to an unusual and surprising amount of traffic.  
“It’s 21:00; there cannot be so much traffic at this time of night.” Tom complained as he looked at the one-hundred or so cars that were on each lane. He hopped out of the Fiat and jogged through the traffic and noticed that the source of it was a car crash by the inter-crossing bridge, when Tom arrived from the top left corner of the ‘starting line’ there was a crash by the right of it. Several cones were stopping the vehicles from passing by and Tom walked across the Police line that separated the crash from the vehicles.  
“Sir I’m afraid you’re not allowed to go beyond this point.” A Toad Police Patrol halted Tom as he investigated the car.  
“Please, I saved your life! I might be able to save the owner of this car’s one too.” Tom ignored the Police Patrol and opened the main door of the car.  
“Uh, help.” The owner of the car was just about able to speak, Tom undid his seatbelt and carried him out of the car, an ambulance arrived from the top right of the bridge, the only set of lanes that was not entirely covered in traffic.  
“Remember to get the patient out of the vehicle instead of letting him die.” Tom walked over to the ambulance and handed the Toad over to the medics.  
“Is he alive?” The police patrol asked.  
“Yes, thanks to me.” Tom replied as he headed over to the crashed vehicle.  
“Okay people! You can go now!” The police patrol shouted out, making the traffic proceed onwards back to normal in Mushroom City. Tom investigated the vehicle, and found nothing suspicious by the front seats. It was a Taxi unusually in the shape of a van, and he opened up an area to store vehicle items and spotted an envelope wrapped in leather and secured with solid Bowser Oil, he also noticed a body at the very back of the car, presumed dead, he left the body to be dealt with the police. Tom ripped the lock off and read the envelope.  
Dearest Toadstool,  
I am submitting my final choice of events that will take place from January 15, 2015(1) to March 10, 2015(1). It is a Double Dash themed Kart 32-race Grand Prix that will consist of 16 Teams of two. The first eight teams were automatically selected for the events:  
1\. Mario and Luigi  
2\. Bowser and Bowser Jr.  
3\. Wario and Waluigi  
4\. Peach and Daisy  
5\. Yoshi and Birdo  
6\. Toad and Toadette  
7\. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong  
8\. Koopa Troopa and Koopa Paratroopa.  
The other eight teams will go towards the public and will be selected; these teams are to be decided by January 10, 2015(1) in which the 32 races will be announced as well, that is my trial.

Most Horrible Regards.  
[Bowser’s Signature]  
The Rightful King of the Mushroom Kingdom.  
“Are you coming Tom?” Donkey Kong arrived to the vehicle, which collapsed and fell off of the Mushroom City Bridge onto the ground below. Tom travelled back into the Fiat and they drove off.  
“I have some bad news.” Tom uttered as the two exited Mushroom city via the bottom left exit of the bridge. Tom re-read the envelope and then handed it over to Donkey Kong; Tom opened his door and jumped out just after pulling it in to be closed.  
“Somebody’s in a hurry.” Donkey Kong laughed as he stopped his car at a traffic light. He opened the envelope and started to read the text on the page. The traffic light went green and Donkey Kong turned to the left and drove out of the city. He put the vehicle on auto-pilot and started to read the text.  
“Mother-fucking Bowser, I knew it.” He glanced at the page and noticed that he and his supposed nephew are competing on the same team, and also on the same vehicle. “I got to warn the family. They might want to sign up as well.” Donkey Kong turned another right and drove onto a motorway. He saw several Toads and Koopas driving trucks and blue cars, all advertising the new brands that came in May. Varying from Bowser Oil, Lemmy’s Tires, Iggy’s Glasses, Morton Building Construction, Larry Lights to name a few. Donkey Kong groaned every time he noticed a sign on each truck. He thought in his head ‘Why do they get to invest in something where I, Bowser’s right hand Ape, get nothing?’

He parked his car on a side of the end of a road which then continued towards the Northern Mountains, he ran into a green forest to the right of the road which happened to be known as DK Jungle to the people. He swung across a rope and landed in front of his ‘bigger-on-the-inside’ home in which most of his family lives in. The Kong family were munching on a giant banana which was chopped up into pieces for each to eat; Donkey Kong had arrived home from ‘work’ and sat by the table. He was given a plate and a slice of a giant banana within a few seconds by his family who had not uttered a word since his arrival.  
“How was today?” Wrinkly Kong asked politely as Donkey Kong slouched on his chair.  
“It was cancelled.” He moaned. “I also found this today; Bowser’s finally came up with his event.” He handed it over to Cranky Kong who read it vaguely.  
“Double Dash Tournament, 16 Tag-teams, 32 races! All of his money left as the prize!” Cranky Kong laughed as he showed it to the others. “Donkey and Diddy have to play.”  
“Oh crikey!” Funky Kong laughed in amazement. “I really want to be part of this!” His eagerness made Cranky Kong happy as well.   
“Eight guaranteed teams, and eight teams for sign-ups, I suppose you and I should go, Funky? What do you say to that?” He asked. Funky Kong jumped out of his seat and started practicing some dance moves by the table.  
“That’s not all, no matter what happens Bowser will still be dealt with.” Donkey Kong moaned as he further slouched on his chair, wishing he could do something about it but still was not bothered. “We will go into poverty.” Everybody gasped as he uttered those words out onto the dinner table.  
“This is the end!” Diddy Kong shrieked.  
“We must win, nephew.” Donkey replied.  
“No worries Donk, if you don’t win, we could win as well!” Cranky Kong laughed. “It will be fine, isn’t that right Funky?” He turned around to notice that he was still dancing.  
“Err, yeah!” Funky Kong stopped dancing and pounced back onto his chair.  
“I might hit the hay early guys – I feel as if I need some shut-eye due to what’s happened today.” Donkey Kong left the room while the rest of the family dug into a giant banana that was served right after he left the room. He travelled up a few tree logs and climbed into his barrel-shaped bedroom on top of four twenty-metre wooden sticks which were placed below a lake, before he went to bed, he glanced at the Toad-industrialised track known as DK Jungle; he peeked at the giant red flower and noticed several tyre marks on the leaves. He thought to himself that he didn’t want the track to exist. He turned around and noticed the wooden bridge to his left with several dead plants that he always loved to look at. He shook his head rapidly and went into his banana-shaped hammock, beginning to recall today’s events in his head, he had remembered the time at 10:30AM in the morning he was forced to quit his job due to Bowser’s entire empire being ceased according to the Three allied kingdoms – Wuhu, Delfino and The Mushroom Kingdom. He witnessed the Mushroom Nations gather in the Tri-Border conference hall by the border of the Three Kingdoms. Donkey Kong called them Kingdoms but theoretically they are considered as districts by the majority of the people living in them. He remembered making the depressed face when The Three Districts and One... Recovering District in which many Toads do not even know had existed. Ever since February 2010(2) the Kingdom of Résethal which is currently recovering from its 17-year long riots that began in 1993(115). Having lost a 75% vote of the Kingdoms, Bowser has lost all of his supposed chances of staying free. Having the First Koopa Minister of Résethal, Koopan Haluka voting against the future of Bowser, The District of Résethal is hated by many people, including citizens living on its coastal towns such as the soon-to-be fortified Town of Urscan. Donkey Kong fears that the District of Résethal will become independent from the lands leaving no choice but to be named ‘The Republic of Muhino.’ However, within a few seconds Donkey Kong fell solid asleep.

It was almost one in the morning on January 6, 2015(1) according to the Koopa Calendar – a stone had been thrown into the room hitting Donkey Kong’s hand, waking him up.  
“Sweet Bananas!” He howled as he woke up. Thankfully, he did not wake up anyone nearby; he got out of his bed and peeked out of his barrel bedroom. He saw no sign of any life within his vision, but hidden from his sight was two humans both looking at him.   
“Why are we trying to wake him up, may I ask?” One of the humans asked the other as quietly as he could, but it was loud enough for Donkey Kong to notice the two in the distance. He spotted unusual brown hair beside a bush, which made him assume that one of the humans was Tom.  
“We need to tell him what will happen to Bowser.” Tom replied to the other human while trying to be as quiet as he could.  
“Tom?” Donkey Kong called out, questioning him. He jumped over to the lake stack that the two somehow managed to be on.  
“You are awake.” Tom replied to Donkey Kong, trying not to answer anything he is going to say.  
“Why are you here? Is that Enrique?” He noticed the other human’s blonde hair and rather similar face to a woman that Donkey Kong had met around 7 years during a kart tourney.  
“I was called from the ‘real’ world to return here.” The human – who is Enrique, replied with a monotone voice.  
“We’re here to tell you important news to tell you about Bowser.” Tom explains to Donkey Kong, the three begin to hear rustling bushes to their right, behind the giant red flower.  
“What’s happening to the lord?” Donkey Kong anxiously prayed for the answer.  
“It turns out to be that Bowser is-.” The three turn to see a very young Koopa on the edge of the course, who suddenly slipped and fell into the lake.  
“Help! Help!” Enrique jumped into the river and swam over towards the Koopa; he lifted him up and rescued him ashore. Tom jumped over to the mainland and dashed around the lake while Donkey Kong climbed vines and reached the other side much quicker than Tom did.  
“Which Koopa are you supposed to be?” Enrique scarily shouted at the Koopa who started shivering.  
“Leave him, Enrique!” Tom shoved him out of the way as Donkey Kong walked over to the Koopa.  
“Short red hair, red shell? Koopak III what in the stars are you here for? You were meant to be back in Noki Bay!” Donkey Kong stuttered loudly at the Koopa.  
“I couldn’t get out of Koopak II’s extra suitcase and he took it with him.” He shrieked while he got up and sat comfortably on the grass.  
“That’s not good at all, the carers won’t be happy either.” Donkey Kong recalled an event in which he had once visited Noki Bay in the Delfino District in 2002(57), just after Bowser was exiled from Isle Delfino, and by that he meant the whole Island, not just the areas in which he saw Mario come across in Mario’s adventures there, but the whole island, which is about a fifth of the Delfino district size but half of the population live on the island.  
“Hold on a minute.” Tom walked back over to the Koopa. “Wait – you’re Koopak III? Since when did Koopak II have a son? He never told me he had you when I saved him and Bowser back at Wuhu Island!” He complained at the Koopa while he turned around and threw some grass into the lake.  
“I guess I was not to be told to the world.” He replied quietly.  
“Like an accident?” Donkey Kong questioned.  
“Like his father.” Tom laughed.  
“Well, I don’t care if I am an accident or not! I am an Asquia and you know it!” He shouted as he kept turning around and looking at the trees.  
“He’s like his grandfather.” Enrique whispered to Tom while he walked over to the trees. He walked around the edge of the lake and stood in the middle of the bridge-part of the track, and then he started strolling along the track, losing contact with Tom and the others.  
“Koopak, why are you here anyway? As in DK Jungle.” Tom asked the Koopa after watching Enrique leave his vision.  
“The Toad Police are chasing after me.” The Koopa replied. “Apparently any Asquia is banned from entering the Mushroom District, my dad took a Bowser-supporting rival of Galaxy Air, known as the Koopa Airlines, since the Airport was right at the border, and he left his second suitcase at the airport.” He continued lecturing. “It was the one with me in it, so I had to escape the suitcase and I took a Taxi to Mushroom City under the name Koopak Lewis.”  
“What made you get here?” Tom hesitated as if he was bored of what Koopak was saying.  
“With my dad going to North Delfino, and me in Mushroom City, the police spotted my taxi and chased me, I jumped out at the intersection bridge, little did I know that the car crashed after I got out-.  
“Hold on a minute – that car that crashed was the taxi that you were in?” Tom butted in after getting up from the edge of the lake.  
“Yes! Yes! Were you there?” Koopak asked Tom while peeking behind a tree.  
“I was there a while after you were – the person in the vehicle is safe, but when I was there the so called taxi looked like a lorry.” He assumed as he started walking around the area.  
“Yeah.” The Koopa replied.  
“Lemmy’s Tires, a Taxi? Oh dear.” Tom worried. “This isn’t good, Koopak, they’re chasing you because they know you’re an Asquia. You need to get out of this district – they will kill you!” He dashed to the left towards the bridge. “DK! Koopak! We need Enrique, wherever he has gone.” The three started jogging along the race track looking for Enrique. They all jumped across the ramps before crossing the giant banana. They stopped as they realised that the track turned to the right and slanted upwards.  
“I don’t remember this.” Koopak looked at the slant. Tom had spotted Enrique who was on the other side of the giant temple room.  
“Enrique? How did you get here?” Tom asked as Enrique stared at the Banana.  
“This slant is impossible to get across unless you have the anti-gravity karts.” Donkey Kong pointed out as he looked at the blonde human on the other side of the room.  
“I just... Somehow... Got here.” Enrique struggled to even say a word. He gasped as he turned to the right. “I don’t think the Tiki Statues like me.”  
“Why are you there?” Donkey Kong called out. Tom tried to climb up the slant; he turned at Koopak and picked him up.  
“What are you doing to me?” He screamed. “I am an Asquia! Put me down!” Tom threw Koopak onto a small post that was on the edge of the slant. He stood up on the right side of the post and then jumped and slid down the slant on the other side.  
“Smart thinking.” Koopak III laughed as he randomly changed his emotion from cowering in dear and anger to being amused by the plan Tom had just made. Enrique walked over to him without uttering a word.  
“Enrique, why are you over there?” Tom asked again.  
“What made him go over there anyway?” Donkey Kong whispered to Tom.  
“I don’t know.” He replied. Enrique still had not said anything after he had problems uttering a word. He picked up Koopak by his shell which made him unable to grab any part of Enrique. Without saying anything he walked over to the edge of the track, below the four was a black pit that nobody could see the bottom of.  
“What are you doing? Put me down!” Koopak shouted.  
“Enrique? Enrique. Put down Koopak. SAFE ON THE GROUND!” Tom slapped his head and complained at him while he stood by the edge.  
“Asquia?” Enrique finally spoke out.  
“Put him down!” Donkey Kong risked his life by jumping across the considered-to-be-bottomless pit. Luckily, he landed on Enrique’s body and pushing him and Koopak III out of the way and onto the centre of the track right next to the Banana.  
“What are you doing Enrique?” Tom complained from the other side of the room. Enrique ignored him and threw a punch at Donkey Kong sending him to the floor; he ignored Koopak too, who was complaining at him as well. He dived from the edge and fell into the other half of the lake. Donkey Kong crawled over to the edge and searched for him, he couldn’t find Enrique in sight.  
“He’s disappeared.” Donkey Kong walked over to Tom.  
“Can I get round by any chance?” He complained.  
“Go around.”   
“The ramps.”  
“Dive down!” Donkey Kong suggested. “You might find him.” Koopak walked over to the edge and jumped down into the other half of the lake. Donkey Kong jumped down too and made a giant splash in the water, without realising that somebody else was watching the two.  
“Did you see a human?” Another Kong’s voice echoed across the land.  
“Funky? I did.” Donkey Kong replied. Funky Kong jumped down into the lake.  
“He was blonde, like that criminal.” He warned Donkey Kong as he swam over to him, Koopak III was by the shore lying down about to fall asleep.  
“You mean Enrique?” He wondered.  
“Yeah.”  
“But he saved The Fourth District?”  
“As well.”  
“That is one corrupt person.”  
“Corrupt?” Funky Kong started laughing as he said that word. “I would’ve described him as strange, but corrupt? He’s not like Rosa’s bro.”  
“But he’s doing weird stuff.”  
“He’s sitting on the fence that determines which side you’re on.”  
“I guess.” The two Kongs swim back to shore and carried the sleeping Koopak back to Donkey Kong’s barrel house.  
“Are you sure he’s safe here?” Funky Kong asked Donkey Kong.  
“Yes, I’m sure of it. Go back to your bedroom and sleep, we’ll discuss in the morning.” Donkey Kong went into his bed and Funky Kong left the room...

At around half-two in the morning, another stone hit Donkey Kong’s head – while he was sleeping.  
“Habudada!” He shouted a word that he heard in one of his dreams. He shot up and banged his head accidently on the roof of his barrel-shaped house. “Tom?” He called out as he spotted him after turning to the right.  
“I have Enrique.” Tom pointed over towards another blonde human wrapped in rope and cosmic duct tape attached across his mouth.  
“Kjo është një përvojë ë dhimbshme që edhe unë gjej bezdisshëm.” Enrique mumbled as he shook his head.  
“Whatever that means.” Donkey Kong groaned as he sat by the edge of the wooden platform that the barrel sat on. “I don’t want any massacre again.” He turned around and stomped back into his bedroom. Tom stood on the grass and watched Enrique lie down on the floor acting rather bored. As he stared back at Donkey Kong’s barrel, he too sat down onto the floor and watched Donkey Kong eventually come out of the bedroom.  
“Can we go back to Mushroom City?” He pleaded as he crept out of the barrel, paying lots of attention to Koopak III who was sleeping on the floor. He climbed across the vines which led him to the forest behind the giant flower. Tom dragged Enrique along the road and they took a detour through the woods to exit DK Jungle.  
“Whuh huh wuh gohuh.” Enrique mumbled again as they reached a massive grassland plain which surrounded a road which went from Mushroom City to the Southwest Kingdom of Beanbean, near the Delfino Border.  
“Mushroom City.” Tom replied to Enrique as he threw him into the boot of Donkey Kong’s parked car. Tom and Donkey Kong got into the Fiat stolen from the ‘real’ world and turned left to travel back into Mushroom City. They drove four-hundred metres before entering the city and arrived at the bridge, as they changed lanes to travel past the top right exit of the bridge, they spotted somebody riding a kart. By the looks of it Tom had assumed that the creature was riding the Nitrocycle, he then noticed that the creature wore a blue hooded cape and had goggles wrapped on his head. The creature entered the lane next to the others and they drove along the road together.  
“Kamek?” Donkey Kong spoke out to him. The creature slowed down to keep in pace of the vehicle that the others were in.  
“Kong?” He replied. “The games are in a week a bit, better start practicing!” He giggled while noticing Tom next to Donkey Kong on the right of the vehicle. The two vehicles slowed down by some traffic lights.  
“You choose to be part of it then?” Tom croaked while hitting his neck. “Apologies.”  
“Yep, getting all of the experience from Dry.” Kamek turned ahead and watched the traffic light turn red. “Who’s this human then? A real-worlder? I wonder if Rosa brought him here.” He turned to Donkey Kong expecting an answer.  
“Err.” He was speechless.  
“Yes, she did bring me here, five years ago.” Tom explained. “I’m Tom Tûnis; I was first brought here in 2010, taught by the ‘authoritarian’ princesses on saving the riots in Résethal.” He continued after taking a few breaths. “Now I wish I never helped them.”  
“It was brave of you to do it.” Donkey Kong spoke to Tom. “What you did was a very brave task, but if it was given by Bowser to do the opposite, you would be favoured by even more people.”  
“What do you mean?” Tom looked confused.  
“In a nutshell.” Kamek explained. “More people support Bowser than you think, and the people beyond The North (if there is any) might support him too.”  
“Are you saying many people in Mushroom City, Toad Town, Toad Harbour, there are people who secretly support him?” Tom wondered as he stared forward. He noticed that the traffic lights had remained red.  
“But there are some people who love Peach more than Mario does.” Kamek pointed out.  
“Ata nuk duan që ju të shkoni.” Enrique groaned from the boot of the car.  
“Is that a human in the back?” Kamek questioned the two.  
“Yes, its Enrique, he needed to shut up a bit.” Tom covered up the story.  
“Alright – what’s with the traffic lights?” Kamek moaned.  
“Just go.” Tom pointed out as Donkey Kong put his foot down and the vehicles accelerated. As they raced down the lane the traffic lights suddenly skipped amber and turned green, several Toad Patrol vehicles chased after the rest.  
“Circuit!” Tom shouted to the two. “Keep going!” The three drove their vehicles past the other large cars and sped ahead of them, several police cars began driving by their tails. Enrique started bashing the back door of the car, trying to escape. Tom unclipped his seatbelt and climbed behind the car seats and spotted Enrique without duct tape on his mouth and ropes only sealing his legs together, he had full grip with his hands and started punching the window. He created several cracks in the window just before Tom had approached him, falling into the boot of the car as well.  
“Are you out of your mind Enrique?” Tom shouted at him as Donkey Kong made a quick-turn up to the bridge.  
“Sorry about that!” Donkey Kong shouted. “I’m not used to karting tracks while driving a one-and-a-half-tonne car.”  
“Whatever – keep driving.” Tom ordered as he spotted several Toad Patrol vehicles at least ten metres from the Fiat, several Toads and Koopas got out several Toad Pistol Prototypes and started firing at the window, the glass of the window was broken and bullets started flying in. Donkey Kong ducked and kept driving. Kamek turned around again and took the short-cut, but never came out of the other end.  
“They took Kamek!” Donkey Kong shouted as he took an off-track detour and drove through the main part of the city. Tom started punching Enrique as he managed to get the ropes off of his legs.  
“What are you doing?” Tom tried to hold Enrique, who hadn’t uttered a word since he spoke in Old Koopish. Unfortunately, he manoeuvred around Tom and got him into a headlock.  
“So easy how I’ve managed to speak the language.” Enrique shoved Tom onto a seat and jumped out of the window, going to land in front of the police car, but because of its fast speed he crashed through the Patrol’s car window. Tom turned around and jumped into the seat next to the driver’s.  
“He’s in their car now.” Tom informed Donkey Kong as they suddenly appeared speechless as more Patrol cars arrived in front of them.  
“We’re screwed.” Donkey Kong stomped on the brakes and turned left. Enrique, after breaking in to the swerving police car, flew out of the car’s right window and flew downwards down stairs into the Mushroom Kingdom Underground, he rolled down the stairs and slipped onto a train, which then closed doors and sped underground to another part of the city.  
“What are the chances of that?” One of the elderly Toad’s on the train laughed as Tom became the centre of attention.  
“No fucking idea.” Enrique replied...  
...  
“Attention Donkey Kong. We have you surrounded! Get out of your car, and put your hands up or we will fire!” One of the Toads pointed his pistol at the car. Donkey Kong got out of the vehicle and raised his front graspers in the air. He was handcuffed and put into the same Patrol car as Kamek.  
“What happened to you?” Donkey Kong asked. “Were you surrounded?” Kamek took a deep breath.  
“The vehicle slipped and I got caught.” He answered in depression.  
“Still need improvement then.” Donkey Kong laughed as he noticed no Patrol members were in the car.  
“That’s if we’re allowed to get into the games.” Kamek pointed out.   
“Bowser will think up of something, it was in his orders that Peach accepted, some phony Patrol cannot ruin it for him.” Donkey Kong thought as the Patrol members entered the vehicle.  
The vehicle had driven off through the streets while Donkey Kong began to sweat excessively. While Kamek kept looking out of the window, Donkey Kong tried rubbing of the sweat from his fat furry head.  
“Where are we going? Why are we held captive?” Kamek requested to the Toad Patrol members at the front of the car, after he spoke, they closed the gap between Kamek and Donkey Kong, and the Toad Patrol members. “Harsh much.” He stated again, still no answer.  
“Where is Tom?” Kamek spoke to Donkey Kong as he took a deep breath and looked down. He looked up again and took another deep breath.  
“He is the luckiest bugger in the world – I accidently put my foot down on the breaks and turned left to stop as the Patrol cars were surrounding me. Enrique, without his seatbelt on, fell out of the car and rolled down onto the underground, I guess he managed to get onto a train and escape safely.” Donkey Kong explained with a depressed face.  
“Seems possible, but without magic? Improbable.” Kamek thought as the vehicle started speeding ahead as they turned to the left along Toad Town high-street.  
“What’s going here?” Donkey Kong looked out of the window, little did he realise that the windows were slowly unwinding up automatically, he had to put his head back inside the vehicle and looked out of the window. He could hear sliding as the car quickly drifted through the lanes, several car horns beeped quietly as the vehicle sped fast. Kamek tried getting out of the vehicle but the doors automatically locked. Donkey Kong head-butted the window and made a large crack.  
“No way out?” Kamek asked Donkey Kong as he tried budging the door. “Apart from the windows.”  
“There’s always a crack in that god-forsaken reflection.” Donkey Kong laughed as he broke the window glass.  
“God?” Kamek seemed confused.  
“Never mind.” Donkey Kong replied. “Seat belts off now.” He and Kamek began to undo their seatbelts, but they didn’t seem to open.  
“They’re jammed!” Kamek screamed loudly as he tried using ways to get off of the seatbelt.  
“The Patrol wouldn’t do this.” Donkey Kong bashed the seat he was on.  
“Why would Peach do this?” Kamek thought.  
“She might have turned a little eerie maybe.”  
“Let’s just get out!” Donkey Kong roared as giant bright light flashed ahead and the car started to pull breaks. Three cars simultaneously exploded but caused no injuries or casualties. The Patrol members exited their vehicle and investigated the scene. Donkey Kong and Kamek tried getting out of the vehicle but were unable to.  
“I cannot believe we’re missing this!” Donkey Kong moaned and barging the door. Luckily, a familiar human ran out of the underground station of central Toad Town and rushed over to Donkey Kong and Kamek. It was Tom; he grabbed parts of the door and pulled it off. He got out a Swiss Army Knife that was given to him five years ago.  
“Quickly! Out!” He cut the seat belts and led the two out of the crime scene. The three headed down an alley way and went through a pipe which led to the sewers. They travelled along a drain line for about a kilometre south of the city, Tom busted a door and the three arrived to another rather familiar place, in the sewers...

“It’s Enrique’s business again.” Tom mentioned as he crept along the sides of the rushing waters that led to a waterfall – surrounded by blocks and ramps. “Stay here for a while; we’ll be safe here for a while.” Tom sat down as the three reached a part of the area that was a rather large and was almost all dry. Kamek inspected the large area and remembered racing here once in his practices. Donkey Kong, remembering this place than both of the two, sat down by a sewer entrance to moisturise his furry skin.  
“Why are the Patrol after us?” Kamek wondered, expecting Tom to have an answer, at this time he was thinking in his head of reasons that the Patrol are after the three.  
“I believe Peach is up to this, I feel as if she wants Donkey Kong to be held captive due to his partnership with Bowser, it’s similar to the fact that they were after all of the Asquias, I believe any high-status Koopa Houses. So that’s people like the Asquias.” Tom began to list rich Koopa families.  
“They’d probably be after the Jautjas – Koopol. McShells, Koops, Koopie and Kooper, and maybe any other high-status families, Troopas, Koopas, Koopexes, Rushes, Lakitus, Fonavans; you guys have heard of these families? The ones associated with Bowser?” Tom asked the other two.  
“They might be after the Calaghals too.” Donkey Kong laughed, making Tom make a sigh.  
“You are actually technically right, they might find the Humans too, but the only ‘so-called’ evil humans or non-Mushroom Kingdom followers are me, Enrique, Marrec, Rosalina and her brother, so not a lot of them will be found.”  
“What about the twins? And your friends?” Kamek asked.  
“Ah, those too.” Tom replied.  
“Who is Marrec?” Donkey Kong questioned.  
“He’s the bartender of The Old Bluetoad Inn in Vurduresa, The Fat Goomba Pub in Castelia, The Eastern Cape in Urscan and The Asquia’s Astonishment in Aypyidaw.”  
“Oh yeah, see I wasn’t in Résethal for those years, some of the people who I worked with never knew it existed.”  
“Just like the company.” Tom mouthed while looking at Kamek.  
“So” Kamek explained. “In my view, Patrol members want us to be arrested like the others, all of the Bowser-supporters. And they’ll send us to Peach, who wants us to be either imprisoned or to serve the Princesses.”  
“That’s possible, I feel as if the Koopas would make a flowchart on the ‘Koopa Future Theory’ and see what everyone else thinks.” Tom wondered. He got up and peeked into the distance, he saw a dead Piranha Plant that’s corpse still remained above the pipe. “These gruel Toads – didn’t feed the Piranha Plant after the Anti-gravity games. And they say the Koopas are the bad ones.” Tom proceeded on while Kamek and Donkey Kong got up and followed him.  
“This is Piranha Plant Pipeway?” Kamek wondered.  
“Yes indeed, used in the seventh games and the eighth again, only to be no longer used, unless it might be used during the games.” Tom thought.  
“Dry and I are going to be in those games, we might be Tag-Team 9.” Kamek stated. “Are you going to be in the games Tom?” Tom stood still for a while; stuck in deep thought of how to explain the answer he was going to say.  
“Well.” He uttered quietly. “If I was to be in it, the only person who I might be able to go with is Enrique. I’m not sure if he will be up for it and maybe I might not be up for it. I have never been able to go karting. Especially with all of the items, in the ‘real’ world we have these kart facilities but we do not have items, accelerated speeds, flying coins and most of the things that you include in your ones.  
“Can I go to the real world?” Kamek asked Tom.  
“Well, may I explain?” Tom replied reluctantly.  
“Yeah go ahead!” Kamek said with an eager face.  
“The most common answer you would hear from any human around here is a definite No. Firstly, you wouldn’t fit in there, magic doesn’t exist either, so you can’t use your wand. Secondly, they have more advanced technology besides magic, Sniper Rifles that can kill 31 people with one bullet, aircrafts that don’t.” He paused. “Have pieces sticking out peculiarly. Thirdly, the ‘real’ world is full of humans, no Toads, no Koopas, no Goombas. And lastly, the few times in which you people went into the real world was in the 1990s. When the Toad’s thought that the Koopalings were Bowser’s offspring. Kooky Von Koopa, Cheatsy and Bully Koopa took a really young child to your world, luckily that child was Enrique. The Koopalings also massacred some parts of the world, besides that you aren’t probably allowed.”  
“That sucks.” Kamek groaned as his eyebrows dropped.  
“It’s true.” Donkey Kong interrupted. “Because of the amount of human visitors, by amount I mean just around six, Marrec, Tom, Enrique, Jaapayo, Jack and Ronald; they have made difficult access to each world, you need the qualifications, the test results and permission from at least ten of the sixteen feminists.”  
“You mean princesses, but yeah.” Tom noticed. “It is tough.”  
“I will get there someday.” Kamek wished as he exited the Piranha Plant Underground. Tom and Donkey Kong immediately ventured forth with them.  
“We made it out of the Pipeway, and we made it away from the Patrol, we need to know what happened to Enrique and see who else will participate during the games.” Donkey Kong warned the others as they walked past the finish line and climbed over the fences.  
“Yep, I might join the games; anything left of Bowser’s would be rather entertaining for... Thousands of years!” Tom burst into laughing just before a bright, luminous flashlight shun over the three.  
“It’s sure is great to see you three.”


	2. Toadbert and Toadsworth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapters will now have Summaries!
> 
> This chapter's already been on Fanfiction.net as well, it is another introductory chapter filling in the other periods from the 5th-7th January 2015 and the first extra signups to the tournament.

Fighting In the Streets

Chapter 2 – Toadbert and Toadsworth

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nintendo belongings.**

**A/N: STOP! True readers don't skip ahead, if not done yet, read the first chapter and if you haven't even read the other origin fanfics and speed dials, do so, this wouldn't make sense otherwise.**

**(2017 Update) Alternatively, go ahead if you have looked at my profile or are interested regardless. Pay attention to date and times.**

**As of now this fanfic will be updated with a new chapter roughly once every fortnight-month. I have written 8 so far so I will have time to keep a lead going.**

**Enough with the aggravation Enjoy!**

_January 5, 2015 (1) Koopa Calendar: 10:27PM_

_Kalinka: Northeast Mushroom City. A quiet settlement with a hotel for Enrique to rest for the night._

Calling...

"Bzzt!"

"Whoa? SMASH!" The phone kept ringing, and after several positions of trying to get the bedcovers off of him, he stood up and answered the phone.

"The person who is calling me: I will hang up unless your reason satisfies me." He stated to the person on the other side of the phone call.

"Pipe." The person who called him mentioned to him as he hung up and sat on his bed. He grabbed his glass of water by his bed side table and splashed it in his face, causing a mess but for his benefit.

"Bzzt!" It rang again as he answered it again.

"Competition?" The same person suggested another word, but once again he hung up.

"Bzzt!" He answered it one last time.

"Bowser?" He stopped. "Tom?" He asked. "Is he dead?"

The phone hung up after a few seconds of silence after Enrique last talked to Tom.

"Bzzt!" Enrique picked up the phone and shouted through it.

"SPEAK!" He shouted.

"Not yet." Tom replied and then lectured on. "His last wish was the sixteen-tag-team double dash tourney, thirty-two races, and one winner. Eight teams were open to others, while the other eight were obligatorily assigned to the main important people, like the Mario brothers. Want to give it ago? The prize is Bowser's leftovers!"

"Let's talk on the right side of this, Cinema car park?" Enrique suggested meeting up there.

"I was just there! I'll be on my way." Tom groaned as he ended the call.

...

_10:35PM_

Tom had walked back to the car park after leaving Donkey Kong at an incident at the centre of the Mushroom City bridge, after phoning Enrique about the tourney, he wishes to speak to him at the same place he met Donkey Kong that day, the Cinema car park, which was used as a Bingo Place for the elderly citizens of Mushroom City and Toad Town.

He stood next to a lamp-post on his phone pretending to browse the internet but actually to occupy himself as Enrique arrives to make himself look less awkward standing in the middle of the area.

Enrique eventually came four minutes later. He came from the southern side of the car park, which is the least likely place for him to arrive from as it is next to the woods to the south of Mushroom City.

"What's that thing in your hand? The message?" Enrique pointed at the paper in Tom's hand, which was the first thing he noticed. "Browsing nothing again?" He also questioned.

"No. It is the message." Answering to both things that Enrique asked, in the wrong order, Tom replied. He handed the paper over to Enrique as he opened it up.

"These people worked together in the fourth official series, right?"

"I think so." Tom walked over towards Enrique.

"The 'Rightful King' is second on the list?" He questioned again.

"Look, I don't know why Bowser would do that!" Tom groaned all of a sudden.

"Was it Bowser who wrote it though?" Enrique questioned. "Conspiracy? Could it be the corrupt Peach who wrote and signed it as close to what Bowser would do?" Tom face palmed.

"It does have Bowser's signature though." Tom mentioned.

"True."

"We need to see someone with this maybe?" He suggested.

"Who exactly could, whenever we show it to somebody they'd want to sign up."

"Well, we might as well sign up now and reserve ourselves a place in order to do so."

"Yeah, I'll take this to Peach and prove so, as well as signing up." Tom stopped Enrique before he started strolling off.

"We will go together my friend; I'm not losing you again." Tom spoke.

"Very well then." The two strolled through the city and headed off through the streets. While walking through the busy roads during this hour, they were being stared at by each and every Koopa, Toad, Goomba and other species that dwelled in the city.

"Yes it's us, and what?" Enrique shouted at all of them.

"I think you need to go to the castle." One of the Toads warned the two as they stopped.

"Of course we are going there! Why else would we? To kill the princess?" Enrique made Tom start laughing.  
"Yeah, if we wanted to we could do it." Tom offended the Toads around him.

"Abort joke then." Enrique shoved Tom as the two resumed proceeding to the castle. As they arrived they commented on how it had its doors opened and the fact that Koopas and Toads kept leaving the place but none of them went inwards. As the two entered through the doors of the castle, at least three of the Toads who were leaving stopped, one of them got out his phone.

"They're coming." He called the princess.

"The assholes?" Peach replied with a croaky voice as she drank some champagne. "Tell them to come to my dorm." The Toad ignored what Peach said and let the two figures find it out themselves; they were obviously going to her dormitory anyway.

After a minute there was a knock and then a bash on the upper-upper floor entrance.

"Watch this Tom." Enrique smiled.

"My princess, they've arrived." Toadsworth, inside the room as well as Peach and Toadbert mentioned to the princess.

"Call 'em in." She ordered as Toadsworth crept up to the door and let the two in, Enrique charged into the room and then slowly stopped as he noticed the mess Peach was in, her dress was tattered and she was drinking an alcoholic beverage which she would never do directly in the presence of Toads.

"What the fuck?" Enrique tried to keep a straight face and started giggling.

"That thought's in my head too." Toadbert laughed as Peach looked behind and noticed him.

"You're a mess?" Enrique, taking no thought into consideration about the fact Peach had a greater status than him, complained.

"So what! Bowser's going to die! We might as well celebrate!" She slipped and fell onto a fancy lamp on a table.

"Not exactly princess"- Tom was interrupted by Enrique with a much more detrimental complaint.

"16-1 that is Peach." Enrique raged. "And in fact, did he actually write this? Or is it your works." Enrique threw the paper with the message over to Peach. She opened it up and started reading on.

"What?" Peach began to act very impulsive. "HE'S DOING THIS? And besides, why would _I_ put the Mario brothers first and me fourth? It was obviously him, AND HE CAN SURVIVE? Toadsworth! The rulebook! Tell me he can't find a way to survive out of his decisions..." Toadsworth began to read a manual about the rules of what the Mushroom Kingdom's enemies can do.

"He can." Toadsworth stated. "You never wrote this down when you could." Peach punched a wall to show how raged she was at the moment.

"Have more!" Enrique rushed over to Peach in anger and slapped her rapidly in the face.

"Why are you angry Enrique? He can survive you know." Tom asked.

"I know that, it's the fact that she is a mess and thinks that Bowser will die." Enrique started laughing sarcastically.

"He probably would though." Tom wondered. "The odds are 16-1."

"I don't think so, the chances of him winning are around 3-1, Mario and Luigi 2-1, Peach and Daisy I'd say 4-1."

"Bitch!" Peach moaned.

"I'd guess Donkey and Diddy, 6-1, Wario and Waluigi: 6-1, Yoshi and Birdo: 8-1, Toad and Toadette: 10-1, and the Koopas: 16-1." Enrique carried on as Toadbert and Toadsworth looked at each other in amazement.

"What about us?" Tom wondered.

"Can you drive in the real world?" Enrique wondered.

"Yes? Can you?"

"Yes, the chances of us winning? I'd say... Nil. We're the lowest, I can tell, we've never karted before."

"I actually karted a bit."

"When?"

"About 5 years ago."

"I'm lost." Peach wondered as she almost threw up.

"Just get your shit together, princess." Tom cleaned the dirt off of her dress.

"Thanks Tom, I thought we had it planned ahead, but I didn't know there was a chance of him surviving, but I don't mind the winnings." Peach sat down on a sofa worrying about what has yet to come as she drank more champagne.

"Now come on princess, you've a city to run." Enrique walked over towards the window of the castle, with a perfect visibility he could see the Toads and Koopas walking around the street in madness. He spotted a microphone by the window which he knew Peach used to broadcast messages across the City.

"Attention Koopas, Toads and other. Your princess has realised how stupid she was within these past few days and will be running the lands as to be expected." Enrique leaved the microphone and walked over to the rest inside the upper-upper level room. "I declare that Tom and I should be signed up to this double dash tournament, and since you have the most power in the lands now, it's your choice on whether us two will be allowed to participate."

"It shouldn't be up to me, it's open to the public!" Peach laughed. "But Bowser will get the message that you two will be officially declared on the list." As she spoke again, Toadbert and Toadsworth were immediately intrigued about the tournament.

"Sign up us too!" The two Toads shouted with happiness.

"I guess that's two extra teams settled." Peach smiled as she walked over to the window to look at her city once more. She looked up to the black sky to look at the stars, but some of the stars started to fade and reappear, it was only then she noticed that something, or someone was lurking about on a ship.

"Objection!" The voice shouted from the ship, which then revealed its colour to the public and to the others inside. "The assignments are to ME!"

"Can we go mysterious Koopa?" Toadbert requested.

"Err, have these two good racers?" The figure revealed itself on the ship, it was Bowser.

"No, Daddy, let them in." Bowser Jr's unique voice whispered to Bowser.

"Yes!" Bowser jumped in excitement. "An easy tag-team of opponents."

_9\. Toadbert and Toadsworth._

"Bowser! You are not allowed in this Kingdom!" Peach screamed from the room as she opened the window. She started to spot incoming clouds in the night sky heading towards the castle.

"Oh yeah! It doesn't say in the rulebook!" Bowser pointed towards the book in Toadsworth's hand.

"Page 57, Paragraph 4, read for me Toadsworth!" Peach pretended to act smart.

"Any Koopa with the surnames of 'Asquia, Jautja, Koopa, Troopa, Koopex, Rush, Fonavan, Lakitu' is strictly restrained from entering the Mushroom Kingdom, oppose this rule and the Koopa will be sentenced with 2 KoopaYears in jail." Toadsworth read out, embarrassing Peach as she ran over to look at the manual.

"I didn't declare it with the Toad council? That they were now to be killed?" Peach ran in circles in a tantrum.

"Ha-ha." Bowser and his son burst into laughter. "Looks like I can."

"But you can't commit various crimes or it's execution for you, immediately." Toadsworth stated.

"For me that is!" Bowser stomped on his ship as three Kamikaze Koopas with white shells invaded the room; they each hid in their shells and drifted through the room, smashing every ornament in sight. Toadbert and Toadsworth started climbing the walls of the room, Bowser jumped into the castle because of the open window and grabbed Peach as she started to run away, Tom and Enrique were focused on avoiding the white shells. But Bowser quickly jumped back onto his ship with Peach and headed off. After a while the white shells drifted out of the castle and crashed on the slanted walls of the castle. Toadbert and Toadsworth climbed down from the walls and examined the broken items, including her father's ashes.

"Another one bites the dust." Toadbert cried as he looked at the ashes on the ground.

"I forgot to ask Bowser to sign up." Tom groaned. "Enrique, why did we forget?" There was no reply. "Enrique?" He was missing from the room, Tom exited the room and started rushing through the hallways of the castle, and he spotted several Toads rushing from room to room, not able to stop screaming. "Enrique!" He shouted as he exited the castle and headed off into the Mushroom City, the capital...

"Lord Bowser!" Hammer Bro requested to speak to Bowser.

"Yes mister?" He replied reluctantly.

"I didn't get to appear in the sixth tourney, can I in this one? With Fire?" He asked politely, Bowser stopped and thought in his head.

Easy opponents, the more of them, the easier it shall be.

"Very well, you two are assigned to Team 10." Bowser eventually replied.

_10\. Hammer Bro and Fire Bro._

"Yay! Your money is ours!" The two brothers left Bowser's eyesight making him think again.

"But it won't be, my money is mine, as it should rightfully be."

"Daddy, what are we going to do with the princess?" Bowser Jr asks.

"King Dad, I think we should boil her up like what everybody else says about'chu. Then we can use our army to conquer the lands!" Roy, who was also in the room suggested.

"We lack Koopas though." Bowser pointed out.

"King Dad?" Bowser Jr questioned Roy about why he called Bowser that.

"What?" He looked back at Bowser Jr in confusion.

"Never mind." Bowser Jr confused Roy.

"We should make _me_ the Queen of the Kingdoms, and make her feel sorry for me!" Wendy guessed.

"NO!" Every other Koopaling and Peach replied with an unusually loud voice.

"We can kill her Dad, and improvise what happens." Larry asked Bowser.

"I'd get executed and with the Toad's rise of technology, you know, anti-gravity, you eight cannot survive without me if your choices are as bizarre as what you all said." Bowser stated.

"Mario!" Peach screamed inside a cage.

"Shut up human!" Ludwig shook the cage in anger.

"I'm surprised Bigmouth over here hasn't said anything yet." He looked at Morton, who had Koopa duct tape round his mouth.

"Mmmm! Mmm!" Morton mumbled acting like an annoyance.

"You're welcome King Dad." Roy laughed.

"Let's leave her here for now, and then we'll decide after the tournament." Bowser proclaimed.

"Let us in King Dad! Me and Bigmouth can race better than most of the people who're gonna be in the tourney."

"Yeah, Larry and I could be in it too!" Ludwig agreed.

"Us too!" Iggy and Lemmy with their high-pitched voices screamed in excitement.

"Daddy!" Wendy screamed. "I want a sister!" She screamed again.

"Exactly, you're not allowed because it's against the rules, I'd be executed. And besides, who would Wendy go with?" Bowser questioned.

"He could go with me Daddy." Bowser Jr looked at Wendy, who grinned back at him.

"And who am I to go with? My skeletal form? He's gone now, should've been replaced by Petey." Bowser rejected the ideas as he began to slouch on his throne seat.

"King Dad, wait for them Mario brothers to come along, then we'll see what's in store for us." Roy walked up to Bowser with a smile on his face.

"That's a good idea Roy, instead of making many fail-of-a-plans, why don't the Mario brothers do what they choose to then they can come and rescue the princess without help!" Bowser smiled back at Roy who seemed anxious.

"That wasn't a joke right, King Dad?"

"Of course it is!" Bowser knocked Roy on his round head. "I want this tournament to resume, but I do not want this Toadstool interrupting every decision we make! Kooky?"

"Yes King Dad?" Ludwig replied with his unusual voice as he walked over towards Bowser.

"Get the bounty hunters and bring them to me! The rest of you, go to the volcano at Wuhu and configure the remains of the star-pipsqueak's brother's devices, make it so that the lousy Toadstool over here did it." Bowser commanded as Ludwig saluted him back and hitchhiked a tiny Bowser ship and left his sight.

"King Dad? Why do you need those two?" Larry wondered.

"They love to sit on both sides; they spent time working for this Toadstool, now they'd rather like to work for me." Bowser laughed and Peach gasped in fear.

"They'll never turn to you!" Peach shouted, the Koopalings reacted and shook the cage, making Peach slip and fall.

"Oh they will." Bowser yawned. "Cheatsy! Go with him!" He took a nap as Larry left the room.

"What will we do with the Princess?" Roy asked the others.

"Leave her here, his loss if she escapes." Wendy looked at Peach. "Eww, that makeup is disgusting!" She looked at Peach and commented on her look, without taking notice of the events she has been put through in the past few hours.

"This isn't what I look like!" She groaned back to Wendy.

"I guess Iggy and Lemmy have already disappeared." Roy stated as he left the room.

"I'll stay here!" Bowser Jr shouted to the others. "I don't want anything going bad with Dad."

"Exactly, what you said was a b-brilliant idea, only you, the true son no born at the same time must guard his father, the King! So Peach will not escape!" Morton rapidly spoke out, making Roy strangely happy.

"Thirty words, new record!" Roy shouted from another room of the dungeon...

...

_12:10AM – Mushroom City_

Ludwig met with Larry and travelled across the Metropolis of Mushroom City, sneaking across the alleyways, trying not to interact with any Toads. They rushed to turn through another dark alleyway until the two bumped into a tiny Koopa who was rushing around for the same reasons as the two.

"Ludwig, Larry? Don't worry it's only me." The Koopa squeaked. Larry and Ludwig got up from the floor and noticed the Koopa who got up as well.

"Who are you?" Larry asked as he crept over to the Koopa.

"Koopak, three!" He squeaked again. "I'm in trouble with the princess because of my father and grandfather."

"He betrayed King Dad! Get him!" Ludwig and Larry chased Koopak around the alleyways of the city, sliding across the floor and stomping on the puddles that lay on the stinky corners on their way. Koopak jumped up and climbed up a sewage pipe on the walls of the tall buildings, little did he realise that it was the Toad Brigade Headquarters building. Ludwig and Larry started climbing up the pipe, Ludwig climbed rapidly first and caught Koopak at the top, he climbed a little more and noticed Toads and Koopas working inside the building on computers, Ludwig looked at the Toad working to the closest computer and he looked back at Ludwig, his eyes remained normal as he carried on working and then soon enlarged as he jumped out of his chair and told the others working in the room to look at Ludwig.

"Larry! I don't want to jump down!" Ludwig kept climbing up the building with Larry beginning to climb higher too as Toads spotted him and was at the bottom of the sewage pipe.

"Keep going Ludwig! They're chasing me up!" Larry climbed and noticed glass falling down the building as a window was shattered by the Toad Brigade.

"I am not letting you two go!" The lead Toad started climbing up for Larry and Ludwig. Ludwig eventually reached the top of the building and laid Koopak III on the floor and jumped across the building roofs. Larry soon followed but Koopak was surrounded by the brigade, he dashed out of the way and climbed down the houses, with Koopas and Toads chasing him out of the city. Unfortunately, there were only two buildings that Ludwig could jump across which were the one he was on and the one he is on. He and Larry stopped and got surrounded by the brigade.

"The Toad here!" The Toad spoke out to Larry and Ludwig as they were handcuffed. "Peach would be so happy if she saw this, the two best Koopalings caught by us!"

_1 HOUR LATER..._

"Mister Ludwig von Koopa, come with me please." A Toad Brigade member grabbed the handcuffed Koopa and dragged him into questioning; there he saw an unusual blue-shelled Koopa wearing a pair of sunglasses inside a tiny room.

"So, mister Koopa." He started as the door closed, leaving the two inside the windowless room. "I must say there are more Koopas with the surname Koopa than there are Koopexes, Jautjas and Asquias put together. Though many of them aren't related to you, after the riots all we know is that Martin Koopa, Rhys Koopa, Bethel and Andrea Koopa are left alive, besides you nine." He carried on as Ludwig started counting.

"Tell me, why are you here?" He asked.

"Well." Ludwig began. "With my honest opinion, I was here with Larry to make you guys get the bounty-hunters as if Peach wants them, Bowser wants the two to work for them, my honest opinion is that he wants them for the tourney."

"The tourney?" The Koopa shrieked as he heard what Ludwig just said. "I know! I am not allowed to go in it because I haven't got anybody to go with me, I mean, Koopie's married somebody and went to Noki Bay for the month, Kooper's busy repairing the Wuhu Town, Koopol's in jail and Koopak's missing."

"Which Koopak? Can I ask your name?" Eagerly, Ludwig brightened up and asked for questions.

"The name's Koops McShell, and what do you mean, which Koopak?" He replied after taking off the sunglasses. Ludwig shrugged his shoulders. "Bah I'm kidding with you, the second Koopak, ever since the terrorism at Wuhu Island; he left us and went into the shadows, now I need the machine to calculate your charges, and it won't be long."

_ANOTHER HOUR LATER..._

"Alright, you are sentenced to five weeks behind bars and a fine of 30,000 Mushroom Pounds to pay off. Ludwig reacted and grabbed Koops' knee.

"Listen man, my Dad needs to get the bounty hunters, if you can get them for me and drop my charges for _existing_ in the kingdom I will help you find another person who can race with you!" Koops lets go of Ludwig and forced him onto the table.

"If I drop your charges and get Bowser the bounty hunters, you will let me into the tourney?" Ludwig hi-fived Koops as the two exited the room. Larry stared at Ludwig and stood up.

"Do I need to come in?" He asked.

"No need, charges are dropped, for all of you! I will contact the Brigade to hunt them down-." Koops received a message through his earpiece, unsurprisingly from the brigade.

" _Agent McShell, we have Enrique in the city, we also spot a concerning vehicle containing an ape and a human."_ He gasped and rushed out of the city with Ludwig and Larry right behind him. Ludwig and Larry both realised who the people who were in the vehicle as they exited the city and spotted the vehicle speeding through the city.

"Get them!" Koops ordered some Toads of the Brigade to chase after them in Patrol vehicles. Koops, Larry and Ludwig headed over to a normal vehicle and drove behind the Patrol Vehicles.

...

Having chased them for ages, the Patrol had eventually caught Enrique who attempted to escape on a train, after being chased around he found himself beaten and lying on the front of a Patrol car, having been beaten he lay in front of a large amount of vehicles, unconscious. Koops and the Toad Patrol had him surrounded, without any possible action including escaping. He was finally recovered when brought into the Toad hospital near the castle, they were ought to be going back to Peach's castle in Toad Town after Enrique was questioned.

They shoved him onto a chair as he opened his bloodshot eyes, quickly tying his arms to the chair. After having light shine on his head, Koops, Ludwig, Larry and several other Toads, stood right beside Enrique as he got up.

"W-whoa! Božidar it's too bright in-, wait." Enrique glanced as he reacted vigorously, acting berserk as he tried to jump out of his seat, scaring some of the Patrol. Larry slammed his fist onto the table next to the chair and started speaking.

"Where's Tom?" Larry shouted in his face, forcing him to squint.

"Kjo është vepër e tyre." Enrique secretly replied, Larry stood back and Ludwig nodded.

"Çfarë bënë ata?" Ludwig asked in the same language, Enrique thought for a moment before replying.

"Ata rrëzuan mua! Nuk jam i sigurt në lidhje me Tom, ndoshta shpëtoi." He replied, Larry and Ludwig had thought for a moment as well. The Toad Patrol hadn't understood a word of what they were saying, but even if they could, they would still be the ones to blame. Ludwig turned and stared at the patrol with a frown.

"It appears that the loss of Tom is the Patrol's doing, this is according to Enrique." Ludwig explained to Koops and the rest of the Patrol members in the room.

"Does he know where Tom is?" One of the Patrols asked Ludwig. "They are friends."

"No he doesn't." Ludwig replied.

"He may have escaped with the Ape." Enrique butted in. "And Kamek too."

"Wait a minute." Larry sat down with a thought in his head, analysing paths around Mushroom City. "I recall my Dad with a sheet of the racetracks used; Piranha Plant Pipeway is at least 100 metres from Mushroom City. If you go through the sewers you'll eventually get to the Plains next to the Piranha Plant sector."

"The Donut Plains." Ludwig remarked.

"No that's far; it was the farmland that is home to multiple refugees, Moo Moo Farm!" Larry head-butted the wall in stress after realising several ideas had arrived in his mind.

"What's good about that?" Ludwig asked.

"The most hated Koopa in the land is on his way to Moo Moo Farm." Larry sat onto a chair next to Enrique.

"Explain!" Ludwig and Koops shouted at Larry.

"Moo Moo Farm is a tax-free settlement of the Mushroom Kingdom – The Cow incidents in Season 6 and 8 came to an agreement where the farm changed design and added shops, so the only place where you can buy important adult necessities without influence of the Princess besides Mushroom Airport, Sunshine Airport and Polia. The likeliest of places he would go is through Moo Moo Farm, he is banned from Airports due to the restraining order." Several Toads became lost but Koops and Ludwig glared at Larry for more information. "He wants to go to Résethal, specifically far north to escape Bowser AND Peach and to get out of the public."

"In a Nutshell please?" A Toad asked politely.

"Koopak II is in the Mushroom Kingdom..."

_He woke up in a dark room, without seeing anything or reacting to the surroundings, his eyes hid away from a bright flash of lights which allowed him to see. Bowser lay in chains in the centre of a carnival tent. He stared ahead to spot the three of the many people he hated the most. Peach sat on a giant throne-like chair, with Luigi and Koopak II on seats next to her. He spotted crowds full of boo-ing Koopas and Toads with negative facial expressions. He spotted Bowser Jr and seven Koopalings trapped in Cages, and Donkey Kong, Tom, Enrique and Zane tied to ropes, hung dead._

" _What happened?" Bowser roared across the room._

" _YOU LOST!" Peach laughed loudly revealing scores of the Double-Dash Tourney, Bowser gasped in horror and examined the crowd once more, he noticed several Koopas and Toads looking upwards, Mario stood on a diving board._

" _JUMP!" Peach screamed with laughter as Mario jumped from the diving board._

" _NO!" Bowser shouted._

"NO!" He shouted again, waking himself up and breathing a little bit of fire. He heard tiny footsteps followed by two pairs of stomping.

"King Dad?" Roy entered the room after Wendy yet before Morton. Surprisingly, Peach was still in her cage. Bowser stared at the three Koopalings in embarrassment.

"Nothing." He lied and worried at the same time, looking in all directions, he soon started to sweat as well as look nervous.

"He had a bad dream." Peach mocked Bowser.

"Shut up Toad's tool!" Morton insulted Peach. "How dare you insult the authority of the Lord Father? You..."

"I thought it was a good insult, but this just ruined it." Roy whispered to Wendy, who nodded back in agreement.

"...never should've given King Koopa this idea you scoundrel! I've never..." Morton eventually finished after upsetting _everybody_ in the room.

"I need to speak with King Dad; can you get Bigmouth over here and 'Toad's tool' out of the room?" Wendy hugged Roy as she towed the cage (on wheels) and carried Morton out of the room.

"...worst Princess in the lands! Even Princess..." Morton continued.

"Alright Morton let's go find something to do." Wendy dragged him out of the room.

"...ever! Hello?" Morton seemed confused as the two left the room.

"Argh, Morton was never my favourite." Bowser slouched in his chair, awaiting a speech from Roy.

"Err, King Dad?"

"Yes, Bully?" Roy crept closer to Bowser in anxiety.

"Err, why is this happening? I thought we were going to take over the land." He asked Bowser.

"Well, sometimes when two sides are at war, allies tend to help the side that is in the right." Roy gasped as he wanted more information; he seemed very upset after Bowser's short statement.

"Basically, ever since the start I had a slight feeling that I was in the wrong, but when your grandfather passed away, I got so annoyed that I felt like getting my revenge, eventually to capture Princess Peach to annoy the Mushroom Kingdom. To put this perspective, I will tell you the whole story; the time for you to know about your past shall eventually unfold."

"Do I get to know who my mother is?" Roy questioned in eagerness. Bowser reacted with a quick answer.

"No. Anyway, in the 1990s, a good friend of me called Johannas Asquia."

"Asquia?"

"Koopak I's uncle."

"Ah I understand now, I think I've got a gist of that family tree."

"Anyway, he lied to me that the Mushroom Kingdom was to declare war on the Résethal Kingdom, I told my dad about it because I didn't want the empire to perish to Toads. He decided to declare war on the Mushroom Kingdom with the aid of Résethal, due to the amount of hate they've received from the Mushroom Kingdom in the past. Soon, because my father and I had no idea what side was in the right, a massive war began in the North due to the rise of the Mushroom citizens, turning on the land due to their decision to aid my father."

"Were you going to die?" Roy asked in the most polite way possible.

"My father did, during the process of the war, and so did the Princess's families, I avenged your grandfather's death after he was killed by a Toad. I've been put in exile ever since and wanted my revenge by killing all of the Princesses."

"What about Wuhu and Delfino?" Roy questioned once again.

"They supported the Mushroom Kingdom due to the unintentional invasion of the Résethal."

"What's the agreement in the land today?"

"Worse."

"No!"

"It's basically us, by us I mean the family and the few Koopas that still serve us – against the 'Mushroom Kingdom', 'The Delfino District', 'The Wuhu District' and 'The North' (being Résethal). They're a democracy now because the two new humans seized the riots. The double-dash tourney is the only way I can survive, that's if I win it. Another reason why I'm not letting you in the tournament is if you win, I die!"

"Is this why you want the humans?"

"I want them on a team..."

...

_January 5, 2015 (1) 11:30AM earlier that day_

Half a landscape away, in the Wuhu District western shore, a city rebuilding itself, two specific Koopas wearing sunglasses strolled through the overcrowded city of Wuhu Town. They were heading for the port, shipping off back to the Mushroom Kingdom, then onto Bowser's castle, lasting approximately 32 hours.

"It appears Bowser wants us to play, but I don't want him to die. It's compulsory." Paratroopa strolled out of the main part of the Town whilst reading the sheet of paper which was printed around 6 times. The same letter which was discovered by Tom.

"We are going to work together and beat him – It's theoretically a win-win situation, we don't die and I can finally take a break from working for him." Koopa Troopa boarded a boat after Paratroopa climbed on soon after. "Toad Harbour please." He spoke to the Shy Guy pilot.

"The tournament?" The Red Shy Guy asked Koopa Troopa as he started the boat. "I am pairing with Lakitu for it, hopefully able to race since we're experienced twice." Eventually Koopa Troopa realised that it was _the_ Shy Guy, who was pairing with Lakitu and also waiting for approval by Bowser.

"Oh it's you! Hey there, take us to the Kingdom please." Paratroopa asked as he walked up to the roof of the boat and watch the Wuhu Island disappear through the foggy atmosphere. Unlike the usual sunny days in southwest Wuhu, it was a rather freezing cold day with a side of fog, the speedboat soon turned into the mainland to travel down a river which split the border between Wuhu and Delfino. As the boat sped through the ghostly aisle, Paratroopa went back into the inside of the speedboat and sat down with Koopa Troopa. Sitting awkwardly, they awaited to speak.

"So, where's Lakitu?" Koopa Troopa whispered to Shy Guy as he looked around the edges of the river, they seemed mossy and started lurking about. "And where are we going?" He quickly reacted as lights began flashing from underwater as they went through a tunnel, where lights on the walls began to shine.

"He said he was waiting in the Mushroom Kingdom for approval for him and me to get into the tourney, then we're going to Bowser's Castle to get his approval, then we will find the humans." Shy Guy replied while passing through the tunnel.

"The humans, I thought that they were friends with the Mario brothers." Paratroopa butted in accidently. "Oh yeah, they said they didn't cease the riots for them. Where are they?" Shy Guy couldn't find an answer.

"I am not so sure on that one, we last heard of them at Mushroom City, Enrique (surprisingly) was captured, but Tom managed to escape with Kamek and Donkey Kong."

"Kamek?" Koopa Troopa gasped. "He said he was going with Dry Bones." Rubbing off the ash and dust from his face when they entered the tunnel, they eventually slowed down as they accessed the supposed end of the line according to the Koopas, the way out closed on them and water began to fill up, rising the boat.

"We're about a fortieth of the way there, we need to travel for a few hundred-more miles to get to the East Delfino drop, we're in the western one, and then about 150 miles to Mushroom City." Shy Guy explained as they rose to the surface. The boat rapidly sped out of the tunnel and began travelling through the river. Koopa Troopa awkwardly began to speak again.

"So, this is going to take a while. How far have we travelled statistically?" He asked.

"Well, it is a total of 12 miles out of 477 here. So I would recommend sleeping, we'd arrive at the Mushroom Kingdom by morning, and another 128 miles to Bowser's castle, so mid morning there." Koopa Troopa sobbed as he lied down.

"Couldn't we just take the pipes?" He moaned, making crazy sounds after.

"We're unsure if any correct pipe in Wuhu can lead us there." Shy Guy replied as he looked behind to notice Paratroopa asleep.

"I am going to be so tired today." He spoke to himself.

_MEANWHILE... – 3:20AM_

Enrique woke up inside the same dark room after falling asleep, trapped in the same position, the lights flashed on and Ludwig walked into the room from the same entrance, with an awkward grin on his face.

"Why am I still here?" In his most convincing voice, Enrique asked.

"What I want to know is." He took a breath. "Why _are you_ still here?" Enrique seemed very confused.

"No sense to me." He spoke again.

"Listen, I'm putting you on the team list, whenever I get a chance to find my Dad. The most important thing about it is. Are you willing to do your worst to save Bowser?" Explaining an irrelevant answer, he freed Enrique from the trap and guided him into another room of the Toad Patrol headquarters.

"An important question upon another question, which is also important." Enrique replied without answering, but instead giving him another question, he rubbed his eyes from the build-up of dust by his eyelids. "The thing is, the reward is more demanding to me, and I didn't want to fight for the Princesses..."

"Go on."

"It's a bit lengthy, about the Nintendo conspiracy. I have a deep confession to make."

"What is it?"

"When I was a kid, my grandfather had to bring the family to Brooklyn for work, he and his wife wanted somebody to babysit me, and believe it or not, the Mario brothers appeared out of nowhere to babysit me.

"What's this meant to prove?"

"Let me finish and you'll understand! What I realised is that they came through a pipe in my house, I went through it in a game of hide and seek and appeared in this land. Though it was a life-threatening experience, I dreamed of coming back." Ludwig backed away from Enrique, with his hand on his forehead, remembering that day in the 90s.

"Oh fuck. That day was not good. I got beaten that day by King Dad."

"Exactly, it was you that almost killed the Mario brothers, you almost killed me too. I chose you over them but you tricked me." Enrique charged over to Ludwig and shoved him and pushed him to the floor. Ludwig tried to get up quickly but Enrique held him down. "You ruined the opportunity; I could've kept those riots until I saw you. I didn't fight for the Princesses with pride. But you blew the moment!"

"Enrique, I'm sorry, I didn't know that child was you, get off of me please! I'll sort something out!" Ludwig cried in agony, Enrique pressured his shoulder, giving him extreme pain.

"Trapped me and the brothers! I hate them too! I wanted to join you! I felt like being your 'friend'." Whilst pressuring, he rubbed the feeling into Ludwig.

"Please! I'll do anything!" Ludwig screamed loudly, which luckily made Enrique stop. "I don't want to hurt you. The opportunity is now."

"What's the point? I hate you now!" Enrique sat down on the floor of the empty room.

"Listen, any one thing I'll grant you. I just don't want you to kill me; you're the only human I know who's powerful enough to." Ludwig sat against the wall, next to Enrique, who kept looking straight. "Anything you want." Enrique finally replied. "For Tom and I to do our best in the tourney..."

Ludwig remained silent.

"It's what I want."

"What if he wins?" Ludwig silenced Enrique. But after about half a minute of undisrupted silence, he finally replied. "If he wins, I will remain my role in your hierarchy or perhaps work for him, he needs what he wants."

"What if you don't win?" Ludwig questioned Enrique.

"The correct question would be what if Bowser doesn't win? If I didn't win, Bowser might not win." He replied. "If he doesn't win, I know that Bowser will not survive the execution, he will die, and I will resign my status of this land and leave the lands, back to my real world." Ludwig remained speechless for a while and walked over to the wall of the room.

"I know for a fact Enrique that you won't be killed by Peach, you did your work for her, and I know Bowser will not kill you either, you're doing work for him, but I will accept your offer and inform Bowser as quickly as I can." He led Enrique out of the room and they proceeded to the roof of the Toad Brigade Headquarters. They stood on the edge glancing around the corrupted city without a leader. They spotted many fires in the distance and wondered how quick it took the Toads and Koopa-citizens to realise their fate without Peach, they also saw Koopa Troop soldiers and Toad Brigade fighters together, attempting to restore this city, Peach's number two, Toad himself was absent along with Toadette in the west, so the Mushroom District lay in the hands of its citizens.

"Where's Peach now, Bowser's?" Enrique asked Ludwig as he turned around and free-walked around the roof.

"I think so, but he cannot do anything for her." Enrique sat on the edge of the roof and got out a notepad he kept in his left pocket and started writing down current locations of the people he knew about.

"Ludwig, Tom escaped somewhere with Donkey Kong and Kamek. What do we have to do now?" He asked as Ludwig started to walk back to Enrique.

"We need to know the locations of the current 16 candidates, as well as the future second group of 16 candidates for the tourney. Bowser and Jr we know where they are, Mario brothers – not sure where they are, Peach 'n Daisy... Daisy's at her castle or somewhere with Luigi, Wario and Waluigi are at their shack, Yoshi and Birdo, probably at their house, Toad and Toadette – absent, Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa are on their way here. Donkey Kong is missing, but Diddy is at his home."

"One more thing." Enrique said to Ludwig.

"What's that?" Ludwig replied.

"I'm not racing if Koopak II is." He said intriguingly, Ludwig stopped without anything to say.

"I do not know if Koopak II will race, he has very little experience, though one hundred percent eligible, you can speak to Bowser once you get to his domain." Enrique walked over to Ludwig who turned around at him.

"Tom can wait, but I want to go now..." Enrique left the room heading towards the underground station. "I will be back at the castle tomorrow!" He yelled from across the walkway to Ludwig.

High up in the mountains where wind speeds were at its highest, Morton stood on the balcony of Bowser's mountain outpost some few kilometres from his domain. The landscape was a plateau, being flat at the top of the massive mountain range splitting the North from the rest, the height above sea reached 4km and temperatures were negative. It was also snowing, but the torch flames by the outpost melted any snow that fell against it. Koopas guarded every corner of the outpost willing to defend it from any attackers, but this time out of many there wasn't somebody willing to attack, though somebody willing to talk. Koopas noticed a figure in the distance, a brownish human-like figure with the height of just taller than Luigi's, slowly proceeding towards the outpost.

"I come in peace! It took me 12 days to get here, 12 DAYS!" The male voice called from below.

"What brings you here? Human." Morton questioned from the top.

"I seek refuge for I have been sent to talk to Bowser." The man replied short of breath, soon fainting to the soft snow. Morton seemed rather confused and ordered Koopas to take him into the outpost.

"I know this man, Bowser told me about him years ago, and a time he went south for an event." He opened the outpost gate and the man proceeded inwards. Surrounded by Koopas he was as he stopped in the centre of a large room lit by torches, the light in the room darkened significantly as the door closed.

"No light or no heat is the question." Morton spoke out loud to everybody but primarily to the human. "Ever since Bowser's been targeted by the Kingdoms, all of our power being ran from the mains in Résethal got cut, thus the only source of light for us is the sun or these torches. Our lights are switched off; we lose contact with Bowser and the rest very frequently due to using his own unstable connection from the Castle." The human paid as much attention as he could.

"I've witnessed it all down there." He replied. "So many changes since the riots were ceased, but it didn't help make me find Bowser."

"No worries, he has been expecting you for such a long time you both feel as bad for not seeing each other." Morton pointed out.

"Suppose any way I could get to the Castle from here?

"Yes, it's quite difficult however, why didn't you go via other routes?"

"Well, Toad Harbour doesn't permit routes Northwards to the Koopa City Bay, and Résethal's route is covered in sea mines, very difficult to overcome, the safest way was to go from the top of the mountain range."

"When did you set off then?"

"I've lost track, but days ago, around 12."

"You're safe inside the Kingdom of Bowser now; this outpost has a cable car which can get you directly down the East Mountain Edge straight to the city."

"That's great! Send me off as soon as you can."

"Well..." Morton worried. "Our Cable Car runs on Bowser's network, very unstable." The human had sighed.

"Just operate it as best you may, I don't want to waste more time on this, especially before the tournament begins." Morton agreed with him.

"Very well."

**EOC: Note that there's plenty of Trivia and references to other fanfics, so read the others now if you haven't (By the others im only advising origins and Speed Dials)**

**Note that this chapter was finished in January 2015.**

**2017 UPDATE: This is ready to be uploaded upon the proper non-preview release of this fanfic. Also check my profile for lore and information for things you may not know about. Also if you have any questions or things to ask give a review of PM me and I'll respond as quickly as i can.**


	3. GalaxyAir

Fighting in the Streets

Chapter 3 – GalaxyAir

**A/N: There will be one of these in every chapter, but the main reason for this one is that it contains the most references to past fanfics. So I still advise you to read them or at least understand them before pressing onward from here.**

**Even though I never had MKDD, I still play MKW in 2015 so it helps me with this fanfic, and occasionally MK8.**

**Anyways, Enjoy!**

**(End of 2017 Update – MKW only if MrBean does a stream)**

**Wuhu Mainland Airport - January 2, 2015 (1)**

Sunshine.

The red-shelled Koopa slid over to the nearest table to eat his lunch he had just bought, where a female Koopa with a blue shell who knew him was also eating. He glanced around looking for any security in his vision, hoping not to be seen. The girl on the other side of the table began to speak.

"So I will call you Koopol, even though you're Koopak?" She asked while munching on a near-finished cheeseburger.

"Koopol is who you will call me as until we fly to the northeast, after going into Sunshine Airport, which is due to take off in 20, we should hurry up." He gnawed down the last remains of his sandwich and shot up wiping his hands. "Jeanette there's no time to lose."

"Look, I organised this all for the sake of you, we go at our needed pace." As soon as she finished her sentence loud speakers echoed across the hall.

"FLIGHT M486 TO SUNSHINE AIRPORT TAKE OFF EARLY DUE TO CONSERVATION OF FUEL, IT WILL TAKE OFF IN 5 MINUTES." The Koopa turned towards Jeanette with an 'I told you so' face. The two Koopas walked over towards the M Terminal of airport, queuing up to show the passports to the immigration officer. Jeanette's passport check lasted approximately 5 seconds but she turned around and watched Koopak wait at the passport control box. The officer kept switching focus between the passport picture of Koopol Jautja and Koopak's face, Koopak also kept looking at Jeanette, trying to remain calm. The officer finally spoke.

"When's my birthday?" She asked whilst reading Koopol's birthday – which was February 19, 1987.

"Feb 19." He replied. The officer giggled silently and insignificantly and handed the passport back to him.

"Have a good flight, Koopak." She said as Koopak walked away towards Jeanette, he turned around, looking at the officer who was looking at the next person's passport whilst attempting to phone somebody. He then turned around again and Jeanette started walking with him. Koopak brisk walked through the tunnel and onto the jet bridge of the plane, but he was halted by the flight steward at the front of the plane, Jeanette silently crept around Koopak while he was under suspicion. With caution he asked why he was halted. The steward only replied with a "You are under suspicion". Koopak groaned as the aeroplane door closed and the jet plane separated from the actual aeroplane. This seemed rather confusing for Koopak because from it he gathered that he was staying on the plane.

"What's the problem with him?" Jeanette turned around and questioned the flight steward.

"From what the cabin crew have gathered this man here is the one and only Koopak Asquia II." The flight steward replied maintaining his facial expression.

"Cabin crew? You haven't moved since you saw this man, who is called Koopole Jautta."

Whilst Koopak looked away from the steward he started to make himself seem more convincing. "Whatever it is you suspect I am you are wrong, now I am going to walk toward my seat, sit on the seat and remain seated until this plane lands at Sunshine Airport!" He stormed down the aisle with sweat racing down his body surface, Jeanette soon followed. The two sat down on row U seats 1 and 2, Koopak sighed as he looked out of the plane window. Jeanette glanced up and looked at the other Koopas and Toads on the plane, noticing some of them staring at the two in their seats; she awkwardly looked away in anxiety. Soon before turning back to Koopak, who never gave her a chance to speak.

"Koopole Jautta? Who's that?" He whispered loudly, attracting more passengers on the plane.

"I'm not good at remembering things to be honest – though if you lowered your voice you wouldn't have attracted so many people to listen in to this conversation – about what presents we will buy for the man?" Jeanette changed the topic quickly, stopping the passengers from listening. Koopak groaned and looked out of the window again.

"How long's the flight then?" Koopak asked to keep the conversation going. "Best not drag it all about suspicion then."

"It is 90 minutes to Sunshine Airport and our next flight from the meadows to Aypyidaw is around 4 hours." Koopak slammed his fists on the arms of the seat, he was in stress. "What happened to you today?" She asked in the politest manner.

"Is beyond the North really worth it for me?

"Consider yourself lucky." She spoke. "Imagine the situation your father is currently in."

**The Plane takes off…**

**Sirenna Beach Immigration Centre, Sirenna – January 4, 2015 (1) – 6:57PM**

Two boats filled with various Koopas, Toads, Goombas and even humans tied up landed ashore, several Toads escorted the immigrants from all over the land into buildings around the centre, the humans however, were kept on the boat and the Immigration Officer along with a few other workers approached them. The three humans were chained to the back of the main boat, with tags attached them with where they were originally. The head officer started to question them.

"You three 'Castelians?' is that the word? Weren't supposed to board the ship, coincidentally, we're also lacking a guard on this ship, if we do not get answers to either the lost guard or the reason you're on this ship we'll have to deport you back to Castelia." He demanded as all three humans shrugged their shoulders and looked around senseless.

"We were to board this ship like any other minors..." The centre brown-skinned human, with 'R. Rodriguez' written by his name tag, replied indirectly.

"He's right." The left human agreed. "The ships went from Castelia, to Urscan and err."

"It's like, northeast Mushroom district, and begins with an S." The right human, with 'T. Jones', written on the name tag.

"S huh?" The head officer laughed. "Sirenna Beach?"

"Yes, definitely!" The left human, with 'G. Martin' on his name tag spoke out, then realising they arrived at Sirenna Beach. "Oh, fuck."

"To the left lads!" Ronald, Rodriguez ordered the humans to charge leftwards inside the boat and downstairs into the control room.

"Get 'em!" The officer shouted as the Toads charged into the interior part of the boat, but the control room was quickly locked and sealed. The Toads began bashing on the door.

"I'm so surprised you managed to lock a door with your mouth, Ronald!" Toby Jones, laughed.

"Much obliged, now let's get us out of these tied ropes!" Ronald shouted as he grabbed an implement on the table, by sitting on the table, and began cutting his own rope. The sound of another pointing gun alerted the three as they turned around to notice another human in hiding.

"Oh jeez, you guys shocked me for a minute there." The other human worried as they turned around.

"It's good to see you here to ha-ha." They all tried to break off their ropes. Toby kicked the captain's chair towards the door, being constantly bashed. After Ronald managed to tear off the ropes, he managed to cut the other two's ropes much faster. He then leaped over towards his nearest window and started breaking it.

The door busted open and guards pointed at them with guns.

"Uncategorised humans do not actually have rights you know." The head officer aimed the gun at Ronald, George Martin, the other human and Toby Jones raised their hands up in the air, but Ronald ignored the Toad officer and jumped out of the broken window, several bullets were shot at the window and near Ronald, but no successful shots, a few of the guards looked out of the window and aimed their guns against the water surface. But Ronald was nowhere to be seen.

"We should've never trusted him." Toby said to George as they were escorted out of the ship.

"You can say a lot more when you are taken to court you two." The head officer mentioned.

Ronald, after about two hours and a sunset, eventually reached a shore able to exit the sea. He crawled across the sand, just being able to do that, he got out his phone and received a call.

"Jack." Ronald said, sounding half-asleep.

"Status report?" A loud voice came out of the other side of the call. Ronald sighed.

"Bad news, the officers have George and Toby, Luke went missing, and I've had to swim for hours reaching a shoreline. What's next?" He waited for a response from Jack.

"You need to go undercover as a resident in Moo Moo Meadows, once the target arrives there; you need to take him discretely."

"Right." Ronald ended the call and fell asleep in the woods next to the beach. Jack put the phone down and got up from the seat he was in and left the room. There was a knock on his door and Jack went to answer it, but before doing so he noticed out the window there was a group of armed Toad brigade soldiers pointing guns outside of the room, he then rushed towards a carpet in one room of the house. He moved it aside and there was a hatch where he escaped the house and moved the carpet back again at the front door was busted. His basement was full of torn books, notes, and deciphered texts of Old Koopish. And a large broken mirror where he could see himself and the tattered clothes he has been wearing consistently for the past few weeks. He blocked up the hatch entrance with the tallest shelves in the basement. Additionally, one of the walls of the basement was broken and destroyed, opening up to the Résethal Metro line, though many hundreds of metres from the nearest station. He took one of the deciphered texts he had on the table and went through the passage to the Metro line. While waiting for a train to pass, he could hear footsteps and aggressive dialogue from the floor above.

"I know this guy! He's another human crook!"

"Like the two workin' for the princesses?" He heard a slap in the face.

"They don't do that anymore, they work alone and they wanna kill the new menace of these lands!"

"So this guy's workin' with them?"

"All of them are, they wanna kill Koopak and his family, which are also called Koopak." Jack started to notice a light from the next Metro train going to go by.

"Why? Why would they?"

"Because he has MONEY." The train zoomed by and Jack jumped on to the rocks by the rails and ran towards the next station. The phone started to ring again, but it was from the Head Mushroom Police department prisoner phones.

"Who's this? I don't know anybody behind bars here." Jack said

"It's me, Zane." Jack stopped for a second, and then ran off of the track.

"Oh yeah, I forgot they caught you in the end, what's in it for you if Bowser loses then?" He asked.

"Bowser loses what?" He replied seeming confused.

"Oh." Jack sighed. "The Double Dash Tournament? The one with 16 teams and 32 racers, Bowser's last request. If Bowser loses he dies, and they say peace will come to the lands."

"Mate while I'm still standing there ain't gonna be any peace around here." Zane joked.

"Hah, why'd you call then?" Jack laughed.

"Oh yeah, Marrec is gonna bail me and once I get out again we'll meet up at t'castle and find out what Peach is gonna do with Koopak. Sound good?" Jack noticed the crowd of citizens staring at him in a circle. He looked at them all looking confused.

"Yeah cool, one second – What? I'm not like a spy or anything! Jeez." The crowd turned away and ignored Jack. "Anyway yeah we'll get there in time for the games, they start in 5 days, you gonna sign up? There are 8 partnerships for the public."

"Err, I'll have to say no to that I'm not gonna join just to deliberately lose for Bowser… Is there a reward?"

"Yeah there is actually."

"What's that?"

"Bowser's leftover coins." Zane gasped.

"No, no way, I'm not gonna do that, I'll turn corrupt." He said.

"Alright then, talk to ya soon." Jack laughed.

"Alright see ya." He put the phone down and walked back to his cell, being escorted by the Police Guards, as well as being in cuffs.

His cell had a monochrome wall, used for silencing the use of magic in his cell. He sat on the brick bed that he had to sleep on and stared out of the window, seeing the mountains splitting the districts. After taking a couple of breaths, more guards came over to the cell to escort him yet again out of prison.

Jack walked over to the times of the Metro trains, hoping for a quick route straight to the Mushroom District.

**3 min – Urscan Station (R) – P8**

**5 min – North Wuhu Port via Aypyidaw (W) – P2**

**11 min – Mushroom City (M) – P6**

**15 min – Sirenna Beach (M) – P7**

**18 min – Dargo Station (R) – P1**

Jack then got another phone call whilst walking to the sixth platform. Reaching out for his phone, small groups of Koopas and Toads started to stare at him discretely.

"Where are you?" The female voice from the other side of the phone line questioned immediately.

"Where _are you_?" Jack, implying that it is Rosalina, asked back.

"It's kind of difficult to interpret, but where are you is the question." She replied.

"I'm about to hop onto the Metro to Mushroom City, I'll lodge somewhere there for the next few days, you sure Tom's there?" He said back, noticing the Koopa's staring at him. He started to brisk walk towards the platform quickly trying to avoid direct eye contact with them.

"Yeah, he needs you to give the deciphered text to Cranky Kong, he might be able to trace it to its owner, and we need to take care with anybody else who has association with Bowser or any of the Asquias." She exclaimed. Jack noticed a large, Red-shelled Koopa glaring at him, who was also on the phone to somebody. The train had eventually arrived at the station and Jack boarded it, sitting on his own on the next-to-empty train, the same Koopa decided to board the train and decided to sit in the same part of the carriage.

 _This is the Platform 6 Service to: Mushroom City. Via: Umbrock, Zephenwood, North Port Village, Northeast Port Village, Mushroom Gorge, Moo Moo Farm, Mushroom Heath, and Mushroom City._ The speakers sounded.

"Right, I also need to know where Enrique, the two boys, and Mario is, then we'll need to group up somewhere and launch the press on finding Koopak during the course of the Double Dash Tournament." He whispered.

"Enrique's back on the other Earth, the two boys? Haven't caught sight of them in ages, Mario is probably enjoying himself on the coast of the Mushroom District, best guess is the south, near-ish to the boys' house." Jack immediately hung up, looking at the Koopa sitting opposite him who had also hung up his call.

"It seems to me that you want something from me." Jack spoke to the Koopa.

"But of course, the name's Boom, Boom Boom. And you're on the brink of death if you stay on this train, we both are really, because as soon as we step foot into Mushroom City we'll be next to dead." He replied. "That deciphered text of yours you were talking about needs to be kept safe and not given to Cranky Kong." Jack seemed awfully surprised.

"How do you know all of this?" Jack questioned.

"The information about Koopak is pretty exposed on the other side of the call." He replied.

"Is that why Rosalina didn't give away her position?"

"Precisely – she's held hostage at Bowser's Castle, by Lemmy Koopa."

"What shall I do with the text?" Boom looked up and circumnavigated the train, then spoke into Jack's ear.

"If we keep this between us, give it to me, and deliver this printed letter from Bowser to the Mario brothers, to the Kong family, I believe they are still unaware about the tournament, the Toad Brigade are going to send George and Toby to the same prison as Zane, so I'll be getting off the train earlier to negotiate to the Brigade about them." Jack still seemed surprised whilst reading the letter.

"If he wins then I guess it's his get out of jail free."

"I suppose so, but there's the odd chance in which Peach will just simply get him killed someday, that's what Rosalina said."

"How much did she tell you?"

"Listen, the beginning of this year is going to be very err, complicated, abstract and difficult for everybody, the government's corrupt, Bowser's gonna be doomed, the entire army of his is in agony, Rosalina's been telling them everything. We just need to wait until you get back to the district, you need to unite with the other humans, it's the only way to reunite this land before it goes into major corruption, there'll be more deaths, more tragedies, and we can't afford civil war without a proper formation of the land." Jack worried for a few seconds, trying to take in the information.

_The next Station is: Umbrock_

The train stopped at the station and Jack managed to point out various amounts of graffiti on the walls. He alerted Boom and pointed to the graffiti that said: "T'gjithë duhet t'di". However he was unsure of what it translates into.

"Well, whatever it is it's got an association with death, which brings me on to the fact that there are loads of deaths in the lands now, more than there used to be." Boom said. Jack was unsure how to respond, glancing at the damaged walls of the station as the train departed.

"I don't know." He worried, looking back at Boom. "If Bowser loses, he dies. If Bowser wins, it'll go back to waging the battles between him and the Mushroom Kingdom."

"Those mere brawls are like TNT to the nuclear bombs that is civil riots, there will be no sides in that, just complete and utter suffering."

_The next station is: Zephenwood_

"Nobody wants that at all… Wait a minute." Jack reopened the letter and skimming it for a few seconds. "This can't be Bowser; he wouldn't simply choose this at all. It's not his writing." Boom snatched the letter back.

"Where do you think it isn't him?" He asked.

"Pesky Plumbers? Rightful King? Bowser wouldn't say those in a letter let alone write a letter to them anyway." Boom seemed confused, and then agreed with Jack.

"Who could've written it then?" They both looked at each other, unsure.

"Maybe Bowser and Rosalina know back at the castle, and it seems to be a mess right now." Boom thought.

"Well, I have no idea how humans are going to rule these lands, ones that aren't princesses. They're the only good people suitable for the job; the only problem is whoever is causing the riots."

"But why are the riots happening in the first place is the question." Boom responded immediately. "The Koopas of Résethal are Pro-Bowser; it is how his father got into power."

"Loyalty."

"And that being said, they do not want rule by princesses, Peach is considered 'corrupt' now after seizing Bowser finally."

"So they'd rather have endless war between Peach and Bowser?"

"That than Peach's rule." The shadow of the mountains had reached past the train as they arrived at Zephenwood, the Résethal town bordering the mountains.

_The next station is: North Port Village, via Résethal Tunnel A._

Jack looked back at Boom. "How many stops are considered safe to get off at?" He asked discretely.

"Well I'm getting off at Moo Moo Meadows; I need to see a guy who knows Koopak II and where he's around. I realise it's gonna be tough negotiating with the brigade about them; the princesses probably want their heads too. For you, get off at the stop in between the Meadows and the outermost station of Mushroom City, which is Mushroomheath."

"Alright then." Jack replied. As the train stopped at North Port Village there was a crowd of Toads and Koopas running across the station, some of them jumping across the track, making the train force to stop, the doors had remained closed. Koopas and Toads, Jack and Boom Boom looked out of the window in curiosity and shock noticing the outside citizens running out of the station. Toad brigade members started entering the station, making Jack scared.

"What's going on?" Jack looked at Boom, with all the others inside the train looking at Jack and Boom.

"Not sure, maybe they're after you." He replied.

"Maybe it's the Toads back at the train station. That was Castelia right?"

"Yes it was." Boom stared at the Toad brigade outside, in the tens patrolling the station. The doors opened again.

"Any humans that oppose the princess order must report outside of the train or we will enter the train and take action. Surrender now and you will not be harmed." Jack sunk down on his chair again, Boom charged through the carriages to the front of the train, shoved the wary Toad driver to the floor and pressed as many buttons as he could, hopefully starting the train again, at a high speed, with the doors open. All the Toads and Koopas inside the train fell backwards, some even falling out of the train as it stormed through the Port Valley.

"JACK!" Boom shouted over the gunfire of the Toad brigade members shattering the windows of the train. "Hurry to the front carriage, and break off all the ones behind you!" He stormed up and hurried to the front carriage.

_The next station is: Northeast Port Village_

The one-carriage train shot past the station at rapid speed, leaving all the Toads willing to aboard to stare ahead in the distance. Jack looked back at the people there as they slowly faded away in the distance.

"Couple stops to go, this button stops the train when you get to Mushroomheath, but since you're going really fast you need to stop the carriage earlier.

"Aright then, I take it the police are after us." He pointed out the police cars in the distance driving along the Mushroom Fields.

_The next station is: Mushroom Gorge, The next station is closed._

Boom gasped as he looked ahead, across the valley he saw barricades around the walls of the station, filled with troopers in their dozens, as the carriage got closer to the station they readied their guns.

"FIRE AT WILL!" A shout was heard hundreds of metres before the station, lots of inaccurate bullets hit the speeding carriage as it shot past the station, Jack crawled under the seats of the last remaining carriage for protection but he felt a sharp pain as one lucky bullet shot his foot.

"Oh, shit! They got me!" Jack quickly removed the bullet and attempted to resist the pain. He positioned the bloodied area of his leg upwards to prevent blood loss as Boom ignored him and studied a map of the Metro lines in shock.

"Just don't get hurt! Man up!" Boom called from the front carriage. "I can't stop the carriage!" Jack looked back at Boom from the distance and got up as the gunfire stopped as they were distant from the station. "I gotta jump out now – and you will so too somewhere in between the Meadows and Mushroomheath."

"How will I know where to go?" Jack asked Boom before they passed a large lake; the track circulated the lake before turning towards the next stop.

"Just jump about halfway in between the stations, and just avoid any suspicious people in Mushroomheath.

_The next station is: Moo Moo Meadows, The next station is closed._

The station was actually empty instead of being filled with Brigade Troopers, Boom Boom leaped out of the carriage from the back. Jack watched him walk towards the Meadows centre; he looked forward as the speeding carriage entered a dense woodland area. The ground was lit as it passed all the trees, and squares of fencing containing animals. He soon after discovered a large residential town full of roads and buildings in the distance, about 400 metres before reaching there he jumped out of the carriage and landed firmly after rolling a few times. The entire town was surrounded by high trees and the sky was a navy blue the only source of light in his vision was the lights of the town. Jack scouted onward towards Mushroomheath, going around the metro entrance as the station was on the edge of the town. He watched the speeding carriage pass through and gunfire was heard from as far as he was. At that point he received another phone call, although it was not on his contacts list, without reading the number he quickly answered the phone.

"Who's calling me at… 1:57AM? I too need sleep you know." He spoke on the phone, the person on the receiving end waited a few seconds before answering.

"Luke here. I lost the others."

"Oh, it's you." Jack sat down on the grass, still finding nobody nearby. "That's alright; I know that Ronald made it out alive because he's somewhere sleeping amongst the shores of Sirenna.

"But George and Toby got taken into custody, there probably being taken to the city; I think you should go there."

"Ah I need to get through the city in order to reach the Kongs, got a message to deliver to Cranky Kong about the Double Dash Tournament.

"Fair enough, I suppose you better do that then, need to get Donkey Kong and Diddy into the races in time, maybe get Funky Kong to join up on the open-eight teams. Are you gonna try and participate?" Jack laughed sarcastically across the phone.

"What are you, mad? No chance me doing well in that I never used a kart before."

"Alright, whereabouts are ya right now?" Luke asked. "Mushroom City is a long walk from Sirenna Beach; it's a good 6-8 miles."

"I'm outside a town called Mushroomheath, ever heard of it before?"

"Mushroomheath seems like outside Mushroom city. Is it on the train line?"

"1 Stop on the railway." He replied, then got up and walked around the outskirts of the surrounding fields.

"Then stay away from it, it's probably guarded like fuck there." Luke was resting inside the storage room of the immigration boat, he noticed there were no guards at two in the morning so he got out of the boat and swam around to the car park of the centre, whilst on the call to Jack. "Listen, I'm a have to call you later, I found a car and I'm gonna ride it to the city, probably find Tom and Enrique there."

"Alright then, but be safe." Jack warned. "I don't want you getting mixed up and dealt by the Brigade, maximum security in the city I reckon. If you go in from the east, you will be able to reach the Castle and Toad Town, we need to organise a place to meet up." Jack left the forest area surrounding Mushroomheath and walked along a nearby pathway as he hung up on the phone. There was no sign of any species for hundreds of metres, but Mushroom City was in Jack's vision as he walked southeast towards the north roads. Jack searched his contacts to ring another person.

He tried calling Enrique, but there was no answer.

He tried calling his friend Jaapayo, but there was also no answer.

He tried calling Tom, and there was a response.

"Jack?"

"Tom."

"What is it?"

"Whereabouts are you? I'm outside Mushroom Heath and I need to get a message delivered to the Kongs." Jack asked as he walked directly towards the city.

"If you're going to the castle, get some sleep, you'll need it for tomorrow, stay in a barn of the fields nearby. I'm on my way to the city too; I'm on the Metro Line from Sarasaland, because I needed to alert Daisy about the tournament too. I'm going to rest in this station village of Takhor."

"Takhor? Or Takhar."

"Takhor, it's near Mushroom City, and I will see you tomorrow hopefully, meet me at the Retirement Home, and do it in the evening, there's less security at night-time." Tom replied whilst lying in a comfortable double-bed shirtless. Staying in a local budget apartment in the centre of Takhor, the bedroom door opened and Daisy walked into the room.

"Listen Jack, talk to you later, need to sleep for tomorrow." He hung up the phone on Jack and stared at Daisy.

"I hope you didn't tell him you were with me, this vacation the Mario brothers had down in Isle Port really helped me and you a lot, am I right?" She seductively spoke to Tom, moving closer towards the bed.

"Nope, didn't mention you at all, are you going to Mushroom City tomorrow? The other humans will be going there; I'm going to ring up Enrique tomorrow, Jack's on his way, no idea about the other brothers though."

"Wario and Waluigi?" She questioned.

"No, the unknown ones." He replied as she sat onto the bed.

"You know, you were relieved from your duties five years ago, but you still serve me in this room." She kissed Tom on the neck and lied next to him.

"Desperate times we are in Daisy, such distractions cannot help us from stopping the evil here." She put her hand on his chest and rested her head on it. "But desperate times are later on, when we're in the city; there is no time of need in Takhor." She said.

"You know that people are dying out there, when it comes to tomorrow Bowser will come to and screw Peach around in her castle." Tom pointed out as Daisy pulled the covers down.

"And? Bowser's going to die, we will rescue Peach, so what if she gets captured this time, the goons of Bowser are awful at their job, and we'll call the Mario brothers." Tom worried. "If that's what you think." The two went to sleep under the covers.

...

The phone by Tom's bed side table rang at half four in the morning. Tom quickly got out of the bed and answered the phone; he got out to the balcony of the apartment.

"What?"

"Tom, I've had no sleep, get here as soon as you can please." It was Jack on the other end of the phone. "I've arrived at the retirement home, what should I do here then?" Tom sighed.

"Jack, bury yourself into a room, and just sleep, Sleep! Both of us have no sleep and have a big journey tomorrow!" He shouted. The curtains of the balcony flew over his head at fast speed, he heard crackling sounds in his apartment and lots of moving around. Peeking through the curtains he noticed that Daisy had disappeared.

"Tom, I heard that some of the competitors still do not know of this tournament, and it's in a couple of days, sooner or later it'll be around the corner!" Jack spoke loudly from the side of the call, Tom stood silently without replying.

"Jack?"

"...Yes?" He seemed paranoid.

"I think I'm being targeted." He then noticed a red dot approaching his forehead. Tom ducked and the red dot moved and scraped his arm upon the bullet fire. "Argh fuck!" He dropped the phone and crouched to pick up the phone with his other hand and ran back inside of the apartment.

"Tom? You ok?" Jack called out on the phone.

"No actually, was just shot in the arm, it feels... it doesn't feel!" He moved over against the wall and slipped onto the floor."

"Tom, get up, this happened to me earlier, stupid Brigade trooper shot me in the leg." He shot up as several Toad brigade members stormed into the room and put up weapons against Tom.

"Arms in the air!" One of the Toads ordered as Tom dropped the phone.

"One of you shot my arm." Tom raised his left arm in the air. Luigi soon entered the room with a knife and a Tanooki Mushroom in his hands.

"Luigi!" Tom shouted. "She was all over me! I didn't want to take her away from you!" He abstained for a few seconds before speaking.

"That's not why I am here, I know she is mine, but it's the fact that you've being working for evil over these years, all of the humans, all of them! Enrique, Jaapayo, all of them, I'm here to hunt you down and send you to the castle." Tom seemed happy in his mind.

"Alright, you got me!" He acted as he was escorted towards a Toadstool van, which rode off towards the Mushroom District; Tom fell asleep at the back of the Van with Luigi and Daisy in the front of the car.

**Peach's Castle, Toad Town – January 5, 2015 – 11:50AM**

Tom woke up in an empty room presumably at the basement of Peach's Castle, there were no armed guards inside the room, only a letter was found in the middle of the room, Tom picked it up noticing it was written to him. He read:

_Tom,_

_You had to be put to sleep in order for us to save you here, we managed to get your body away from the Mario brothers and the two princesses when we were roaming in the castle, all we ask for in return is to make sure that my boyfriend manages to make it out of the district alive and well. Both Bowser and the Princesses want him killed. We do neutrals no harm in this world._

_Sincerely,_

_Jeanette Asquia_

Tom opened the hatch door and saw no sign of anybody. The only thing he could hear was the sound of the door opening. He continued on to find a way round the castle, which he thought was a maze. He still didn't see anybody in the castle, no servants, butlers, slaves anybody.

After climbing a lot of stair cases he opened up one door in which he saw the princesses, the Mario brothers, Toadbert, Toadsworth and a few other unarmed brigade members against a table drinking around the centre table.

"Traitor! Fiend!" Toadbert shouted from the other side of the room.

"It's-a me, your executioner!" Mario got up and walked over to Tom, he was enraged but Tom backed away to the door.

"Wait!" He shouted. "I have a bomb! You're all together here you could all die if you move any closer." He then lied.

"You're coming to kill us?" Daisy begged seductively.

"I can do this, don't make me!" He noticed a huge key ring with about fifty keys and one huge key lying against the shelves to his right. Tom stood for a few seconds and then grabbed the key ring and closed the door, using the large key to lock the door to the room.

"I should've made the big key the front door keys!" Peach cried.

"Did he just...?" Mario gasped.

"Yep, yes he did." Luigi slid down his chair. "And you-a don't even have another door out to your dormitory." He sighed. Peach drank some more.

"We'll get out eventually, listen, we're not to worry at all here, as soon as those games end this land will all be fine. Lynch the new humans, and problem solved! Champagne anyone?" She toasted and fell back in her chair.

Tom walked through the hallways of the castle to find his exit after another few minutes. Upon leaving the castle he saw himself surrounded by the Townsfolk of Toad Town, some staring at him as he walked along the stone footpath, after eight years Lumas were still found in the area, for the wrong reasons.

"Tom!" One of the Lumas called at him, a black rather large luma floated next to Tom as he approached. "Have you seen our mother anywhere? We were supposed to leave for the hundred-year orbit, but she said she was going to be back after the battle North. Five years and she hasn't shown up. Tom seemed very confused.

"Polari, I'm afraid Rosalina's not going to be able to return any time soon, you should go into space on your own, meet the stars, be stars?" He suggested, some of the nearby Lumas began to feel down. "I'm sorry." He said "But I'm not able to bring her to you all, she has business to deal with, you can all still go together, the ship has fuel." Tom stared across the lake to the comet observatory which has a bright cyan flame in its centre. "Do it yourselves."

"But it's not the same if Momma doesn't control the ship." A small white luma stated.

"Well, it's better going now rather than waiting, your Momma will not see you again." Tom broke the news to the crying Lumas.

"I understand Tom." Polari cheered up the Lumas. "I will control the ship and we'll travel without her." Tom felt relieved. "Yeah, there's worse business going up to the north-East, and she's just not going to be able to explore the stars with you." The Lumas travelled across the lake to the ship as Tom walked over to the Toad Town gate, he looked around to notice the lack of Toads within the Town. It was almost empty, which reminded him of the Toads in the castle: no Toads.

The walk to Mushroom City via the private woods was also rather quiet, but that significantly changed as Tom saw dozens of brigade members patrolling the outskirts of the city. Staring in the distance, he saw normal life in the city as there were typical Toads and Piantas walking through the roads. He searched around for any possible aid to getting past the heavily guarded boundaries to the city. Over a stump he found a leaking pipe, spilling water. Having no other option he crawled through the dirty green pipe.

In the evening, the city was still full of Toad and other various citizen species which patrolled the streets and the only areas without a huge density of citizens were within the dark and dirty alleyways, the sky was almost black and the weather was dry but humid. Jack anonymously waited quietly for a taxi without being seen by any brigade members, he was at the northwest area of Mushroom City and needed to reach the Kong's Woodland Jungle which is a few miles from the city towards the southeast. Jack noticed a few police cars driving towards his direction so he pulled his hood up and looked away as the cars had driven by. As a taxi pulled over he leaped into the back seat of the vehicle and noticed his driver to be a Toad driver with the resemblance of Toad himself.

"Take me to the nearest town to the southeast of the City." Jack demanded as the car drove off southeastwards.

"Onto the motorway?" The Toad driver questioned back.

"Yeah but I need to get off before the motorway." Jack replied, he noticed that the taxi drove over to the loop of Toad's Turnpike, and then towards the Mushroom City circuit roads.

"We need to get onto the bridge in order to leave." The Toad lied secretly, Jack looked out of the window of the vehicle noticing the other vehicles caught up in traffic on the other lanes. As they reached the bridge the car swerved to the right towards the gap in the bridge, heading straight to a lamppost.

"For the Princess!" The Toad smashed the vehicle into the lamppost on the edge of the gap, the vehicle tilted unbalanced, the right wheels lay in the air and the left stuck onto the road. Jack and the Toad were knocked out unconscious…

TWO HOURS LATER.

Jack woke up by the sound of movement within the vehicle, he woke up at the very back of the vehicle surrounded by storage items and he noticed that his letter wasn't in his hands. His eyes were barely open as the taxi vibrated and started tilting to the right. As he noticed the driver was not in the vehicle, it flipped over and fell off of the Mushroom City Bridge where it had originally crashed. His ears blocked with only the sound of Police Sirens being heard, his bones were stiff and thanks to the seats at the back he remained alive without any serious injuries, except for glass shattering on parts of his skin.

Jack moved about within the vehicle and tried to reach the top door. As he got out all he saw around him were the fences of the surrounding buildings. Noise filled his ears coming from above him where there was traffic from cars in their hundreds and Brigade members securing the area. Jack started to hear Police sirens from another area, from the exit of the ground below the bridge, so he stuffed himself compressed within the boxes inside the vehicle, while panting he began to play dead, though still breathing heavily.

"Search for any survivors, prioritise the Toads." One of the Police Toads called out as they started to search the broken vehicle. Jack lay silent at the back at the people, almost unconscious. A torch was shown over his face by a Toad, then gently it swiped off his face. The interior of the destroyed vehicle became bleak and dark as the Toads left the vehicle.

"There's no living bodies in the vehicle sir, though there's a deceased human." The voice of a Toad travelled into Jack's ears as he woke up again.

"A human? That's nothing but good news!" Another Toad, presumably the leader of the group cheered as they walked towards the vehicle. "Bring out the corpse! This man must be treated with some of our 'special' rituals!" The Toads grabbed Jack from the vehicle as he pretended to be dead again. Soon after the leader Toad halted and noticed the feint heartbeat of Jack being distinguished from the others', turning back and looking at Jack.

"This man is alive! Drop him!" The Toad called as Jack was dropped to the ground, as he banged his head he wailed on the ground in pain.

"Argh! That hurt." He opened his eyes and noticed the leader of the group of Toads. "Toad himself?" He questioned.

"Enrique Calaghal!" Toad stated incorrectly.

"Wrong person." Jack stretched in disappointment. "Am, I supposed to be afraid? I thought the group of us did no harm to the Toads."

"By the order of Princess Peach, any humans within the bounds of the three southern districts must be exiled to Résethal after Bowser's request has ended." Toad ordered at Jack.

"Alright cool, but what about Mario, Luigi, and the rest?" Toad seemed contradicted.

"Belay that last order. Capture him!" The toads cuffed Jack as he was taken into the Police vehicle. Which then drove off leaving the crashed taxi abandoned at the site below the Mushroom City bridge.

"So, what's it like working for the princess?" Jack asked while at the back of the Police Van, tied up sitting next to two armed Toad brigade members.

"You know I am devoted to the Princess, Jack, you've known that even since the games."Jack and the other Toad brigade members felt very awkward as Toad spoke out.

"Well, that being said, I guess the Princess is good with dictatorship. We work for her and we are given shelter, food, economy and civilisation." The Toad to Jack's left mentioned.

"So, communism?" Jack thought but the Toads were confused and not fond with the word.

"No, definitely not Jack." Toad spoke out from the front of the Van.

"Why isn't it?" He asked making Toad feel anxious. "Just shut up." He replied feeling defeated.

"What's communism?" The Toad to the right asked, but was slapped by the left Toad. "Nothing!" He replied boldly.

"It's just how you guys live, you're in the Labour Market of Muhu Delfethal." Jack explained.

"Working for the Princess is essential, especially for the fact that this land is all we know of." The right Toad responded making Jack burst out laughing.

"Seriously? Has anybody ever told you about the land beyond the North? The huge planet we live on?" Muhu Delfethal is just a mere Island in the continent of Sordír!" Jack eagerly stated, making Toad furious. "Shut his mouth!" He ordered as his mouth was celotaped. "You're so annoying!" Toad shouted as the Van drove towards Toad Town.

"Is Jack right about this not being the only land?" The right Toad asked Toad.

"No, he's lying. Peach is always right." Toad worried as he planted his face into the steering wheel as the vehicle stopped outside Peach's castle. "Deliver Jack to the top of the Castle." Jack and the two other Toads left through the back of the Van as Toad sank in the driver's seat.

**EOC: I still recommend that you read the other fanfics (Origins and Speed Dials). This is going to be a very long fanfic. This chapter was finished in February 2016, yes it's taking forever I have other stuff to do.**

**2017 UPDATE: There have been a few edits to this chapter as I have looked back onto it and used this to help me do the other chapters. If you have any questions give a review of PM me.**

**A/N: If you did not know already, the humans at Sirenna Beach were originally Tom and Enrique's friends from Earth bar Ronald Rodriguez and Jack Akbal.**

**R &R! Whatever that means, my best guess is Review and err, what?**


	4. Discussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the first chapter that was finished in 2017, 1 to 3 was done in around 2015 before prequels were finished.

Fighting in the Streets

Chapter 4 – Discussions

**A/N: I have recently been through a huge break of writing my fanfics, massively delaying the releases of the Origins and the last Chapter on Speed Dials (the time this was typed was February 2016) those fanfics have been continued slowly and will be finished soon. Those will also include references to this as well, such as the new appearances of the Human OCs, such as Tom, Enrique and Jack.**

**Here's this chapter.**

**(2017-18 Update) this was finished ages ago.**

**Sirenna Beach Train Station – January 6, 2015 – 4:02AM**

Dawn.

Enrique woke up from his short sleep on the Metro Train he had entered in back at Mushroom City. The train was completely empty and idle. Doors were open and the train stopped fifty metres from the gates to the Sirenna Beach Detention Centre. He jumped up and stormed through the front doors of the centre and all the Toads and Koopas reacted anxiously as he entered.

"Mr Calaghal, what brings you here at four in the morning, surely you were taken to Mushroom City, to meet with the Princess." The head Toad in the office rooms thought as Enrique stopped to listen.

"What, no. I didn't come to this land for any specific reason, I was told to come here by Tom." He replied glaring at the Toad, who backed away from him.

"My mistake, we managed to catch two humans from the immigration boat that arrived yesterday. Their names are George Martin and Toby Jones." The Toads escorted Enrique towards the cells of the detention centre and stopped when they reached the two humans, who reacted in shock to see him.

"George and Toby?" He glanced at the two.

"Enrique! It's us! Let us free!" The two humans jumped in excitement, but soon stopped their happy mood as Enrique stood still.

"Enrique?" Toby called out, but there was still no answer. Soon enough Enrique smiled and felt relieved.

"They are with me now." He snatched the key politely from the Toad of the office and opened their cell door.

"Dearest apologies Enrique, m-my mistake that you know them, remember that you should gather all the humans together for the fate of the land." He said anxiously.

"All is as it should be for us. We have no word of Marrec." He replied looking down at the Toad.

"Is he the guy that looks like Christoph Waltz?" George asked Enrique which made him zone out for a few seconds.

"Y-yes, a little like him." Enrique seemed confused. "Anyway, we will be resting in these cells tonight anyway; we need some sleep for the morning." He moved over towards the top bunk of the cell George and Toby were originally staying in, which made Toby furious.

"Hey, you're not staying here!" Toby called out at Enrique.

"Right, I just remembered, I'll be gone for about a minute, see you in four hours!" He started laughing as he disappeared from the cell room. The Toads went to look for him as he turned into a dead end of the cell, but he vanished. The Toads returned to the cell room where George and Toby tried to sleep in. "He used his magic again." The head Toad stated. They left the room as George and Toby began to sleep.

Enrique warped into his bedroom of his old house he lived. It was pitch black outside and he could hear the sound of argument being heard downstairs

"Žao mi je, ali vjerujemo da je Enrique je preminuo." The voice of a detective or policeman occurred into Enrique's ear.

"Ali moj sin je rekao da će se vratiti!"The voice of Enrique's father cried from downstairs. He stood frozen for another few seconds.

"Gospođo to je skoro pet godina." The other voice spoke again and his father began to cry, a few tears started to fall down Enrique's eyes, but he counted almost a minute in his head at the same time and re-opened a warp which led him back to the dead-end of the Detention Centre. This time it was bright outside, and George and Toby started to wake up, in time of the world they were in, it is almost 8:00AM, January 6, 2015(1).

"Wake up boys! We need to meet with the others." Enrique released George and Toby from the cells...

..

Bowser woke up from his long sleep lying on his throne. He looked to his left and still saw Princess Peach sleeping in her cage. He got up to look at her closely, still fast asleep. He remembered now that he sent off all of his kids back to other parts of the lands as ordered and it was only four days till the beginning of the tournament.

"Wake up!" Bowser rattled the cage, frightening Peach and waking her up from her broken sleep. "It's in four days time, and we only have 2 extra teams participating. I need to call up some people. Where's my phone at?" Peach stared at Bowser as he walked out of the throne room. She looked around to see any escape, desperate to leave this forsaken castle. Bowser shortly returned back with his phone. "No worries Toadstool, we're going back to ya castle assembling up all the other teams. I remember you sent a broadcast for people to gather round your castle for them to be picked into the races. Just need to make a quick call before we go." He slouched back onto his throne and rested his feet to block Peach in his vision. Bowser selected the first contact: King Boo and gave him a ring.

Bzzzzzt!

"Hey Bowser, what's the problem?"

"King, I want you to join my races, with a partner of course, have a go at you know... winning if you know what I mean."

"I've heard about this, your assets are incomparable except for Peach's. Petey and I will race and we'll honour your death with all your money!" King Boo laughed loudly through the phone.

"Looks like he wants you dead." Peach said overhearing the conversation.

"Well, if it's my last tournament, may as well make it the best one. Meet me at Peach's Castle at 7pm."

"I'll be there quicker than you can say BOO!" The phone hung up. Bowser opened up his legs to see through to Peach in her cage.

Part Two: The Roster

**Peach's Castle, Toad Town – January 6, 2015 (1) 7:00PM**

Bowser and Peach arrived back to Peach's castle and landed the clown vehicle inside her dormitory through the broken window. Several others from across the lands situated themselves inside the castle while the surroundings outside were full of Toad Patrol vehicles, police and scared citizens. Bowser dumped the cage onto Peach's bed and used a microphone speaker by Peach's desk to address every potential contender inside the castle.

"This is your King speaking." Bowser giggled. "All contenders meet at the top floor." He looked back at Peach feeling ungrateful, so he walked over to her and opened the cage. King Boo's laugh echoed throughout the castle as over a period of 5 minutes, several different characters walked into the room. Starting from the left, Bowser saw King Boo and Petey, Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa, Hammer Bro and Fire Bro, Wario and Waluigi, Diddy Kong, Funky Kong, Cranky Kong, Shy Guy, Lakitu, and Dry Bones. Shortly after he saw them all, Jack Akbal was restrained by several Toad servants. As they saw Bowser inside the room they shrieked and dashed along the hallway out of sight. And as they disappeared, three other humans appeared: Enrique, George and Toby.

There was a short period of awkward silence as the door closed.

"What's this, a party?" Toby Jones spoke first sarcastically.

"Good thing I already ate dinner." Lakitu laughed.

"Anyway, you can see that I am letting Peach stand freely, which means we are in a conference about the tournament." Bowser began a lecture. "Now you all must be here to apply, and Peach is witnessing so you all seem like eligible applicants."

"We're already applicants." Paratroopa butted in.

"Us too." Fire Bro and Hammer Bro spoke at the same time.

"Stand over there then." Bowser pointed and the four contenders walked over to that side of the room. "Anybody else who already is, stand over there too." Wario and Waluigi, and Diddy Kong headed over.

"I don't know where DK is." Diddy mentioned.

"Doesn't matter. Anyway, who is the next pairing?" Bowser asked. Funky Kong and Cranky Kong approached Bowser. "This is going to be fun."

"Ha-ha." Funky Kong laughed.

"This is for you." Cranky Kong handed over Bowser a tattered piece of paper. It was the letter supposedly made by him. Bowser analysed the letter.

"Apologies for the format." He said. "I only signed it, Peach wrote it out obviously, but it was my choice for this." Bowser walked over to a shelf where he found a pencil to write with. "9 Toadbert and Toadsworth, 10 Hammer Bro and... Fire Bro." He kept writing. "11, Funky Kong and err."

"Cranky Kong."

"Cranky Kong..."

_11\. Funky Kong and Cranky Kong_

"Anybody else?" Shy Guy and Lakitu stepped forward. "I know I can trust you guys." He wrote their names down before sending them with the other contenders.

_12\. Shy Guy and Lakitu_

"Next?" Peach stood next to him silently. Petey began making high pitched sounds which directed Bowser's attention to him.

"13, King Boo and Petey."

_13\. King Boo and Petey_

"3 more to go."

"Lord Bowser. "Dry Bones addressed. "Kamek was supposed to meet me here today but then all of a sudden."

"That's alright, I'll note it down, I'm sure you two are good enough anyway."

_14\. Dry Bones and Kamek_

"Anybody else?" A short period of silence followed, Bowser looked around to see everyone either whistling idly or move their heads looking all over the place. "Nobody? What about you guys?" Bowser looked towards Enrique, next to George and Toby, and then Jack towards the shelves.

"We don't know how to drive." Toby replied on behalf of George and himself.

"Yeah no point us playing." George said back to Bowser.

"There's only four days left to find 2 more teams. Anybody know anyone that might want to play?" Bowser began to hear muttering amongst the people inside the large room. He walked over towards the window looking down to the rest of Mushroom City then immediately panicked after more of the glass window shattered onto his shell from bullets being fired from the bottom. Many people in the room gasped and backed up from the window view.

"Someone's called the entire brigade and police force down there!" Diddy Kong peeked down from the top floor. Peach bravely approached the edge of the dormitory where she could look tens of floors down. The visibility was unclear due to the siren lights of the police cars and the army vehicles. She could see over 2000 heads of citizens at the bottom, and the front entrance barred off and sealed.

"Stay here for a short while; nobody considered an enemy get near the edge." Koopa Troopa suggested. Wario and Waluigi backed up to the back corner of the room.

"Peach!" Enrique called from across the room. She turned over to see him throwing her some binoculars he found on the shelves next to Jack. Peach equipped the binoculars and noticed all of the Toads, Koopas and Piantas. Many holding torches and being barred off by the brigade. As she scanned the area she noticed more citizens all showing anger or sadness, a loud background sound of shouts and screams were heard by the whole group.

"What's happening?" Funky Kong asked.

"There's a riot. A huge angry mob, I see Koopas attacking Toads now." Peach replied. She moved her vision to the right and on top of some buildings. There she noticed a familiar red-shelled Koopa on a rooftop, heavily armed with a weapon. Jack attempted to rush towards Peach but was held up by Enrique, stopping him by moving his arm out and grabbing Jack's coat.

"Don't even think about it." Jack settled down against the wall of the shelves again. Enrique slowly approached Peach, who looked back at him.

"Let me see." She gave the binoculars to him. Besides the background conversation occurring by the Kongs, Wario and Waluigi, everyone else, including Bowser were watching Peach patiently and honourably, not even attempting to push her off the edge. Enrique moved his head around to look at the ground where all the Toads and Koopas were.

"See if anybody here pushes Peach down, the whole world will be in riots." Dry Bones whispered to Lakitu.

"She's too important of a person to everybody." He replied, both of them staring near the edge.

Enrique could see bonfires arising smoke from the bottom, next to some police vehicles, he then realised that the bonfires were lit from destroyed vehicles and trees outside the main entrance. "Yep that's a riot." He moved his vision towards the same Koopa heavily armed, this time he armed himself with a rocket launcher, about to fire.

"It's Koopak Asquia, with a rocket!" Koopak fired, heading straight for the top floor. "RUN!" He shouted, everyone in the room panicked and headed out of the room before the rocket blasted and caused an explosion against the castle. The entire left pillar of the dormitory crumbled into pieces and more rubble and glass shattered, spreading over to the dusty floor of Peach's room. Everybody who was inside either ran out of the room or remained inside but next to the doorway. The table of maps flew forward spreading all the maps onto the floor, Peach hurried over and collected them in worry, Enrique aiding her in the process. The group began to hear sounds of gunfire coming from down by the crowds, soon following was the sound of screams. Enrique went back to look down and he saw all the citizens fighting, running or still revolting towards the castle gates. Toad Town seemed like a battleground now.

Everybody who was on the top floor aligned themselves along a large corridor leading to a staircase; Bowser looked back towards his clown ship which seemed still intact, but more focused on addressing the group. All he could here were the groups talking to each other, loud enough for him not to convey a message.

"SILENCE!" He ordered. "Any others here? Jack?" The crowd stared at Jack, who appeared bruised in many areas around his face. "Rough set of days, eh?"

"I'm not a good racer, never done it before. Never seen someone do it either. Best I watch." Bowser sighed, along with Wario and Waluigi grinning.

"Get good son ha-ha." The two laughed. "Silly Earth-boy."

"But I'm not an Earth-boy, he is though." Jack pointed at Enrique who was standing next to Peach. The crowd diverted their attention towards him, who was distracted by his fingernails turning black from the blast. He gasped as everyone was looking at him.

"Me? Race? Now come on, I don't think so." He backed away from Peach. "Plus, don't really want anybody dying anytime soon." Peach turned red. The dreaded commotion occurring just after the incident infuriated her with rage.

"Alright enough!" She ran over and pulled an alarm switch, sending off alarm signals throughout the castle. "Get out of my castle! I will sort out the last 2 teams, see you on the 10th!" She screamed as an eruptive sound of charging Toad brigade came marching through the main entrance and up the stairs. She smiled evilly as everyone else felt confused and surrounded. Bowser, along with Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa, dashed away back to Bowser's clown ship and rushed off, staring down at the crowds fighting each other down in the streets of Toad Town. As they hovered slowly and quietly, Bowser noticed the busy sounds of Mushroom City as he flown over, unused to all the new skyscrapers and roads in the area. Flashing lights came from all areas of the city as riots spread into those parts, causing fires on every few blocks of buildings. It became a massacre. Bowser then turned back to see Peach's castle, nearly being hidden by clouds, but he caught a glimpse of Enrique standing on the edge of he destroyed room that was Peach's dormitory where all her battle plans lay destroyed. He then turned his head down and left towards some of the buildings. There he saw the head of Koopak Asquia II, who turned his head directly at Bowser, staring at him and scaring him. Bowser was shocked at how he knew where Bowser was in the sky, but instead he gave an evil look back at Koopak before disappearing into the clouds en route back to his castle.

The Kongs had escaped the massacre climbing down the castle walls and heading off through the trees of the nearby woodland, heading straight back to their Jungle to the southeast. However, Wario and Waluigi were restrained up by many Toads as Peach found them attempting to escape the castle. King Boo and Petey had disappeared, but Shy Guy, Dry Bones and Lakitu were caught and cuffed by the Brigade. Several minutes later, Peach had gathered up all the captives in her throne room, just past the main entrance, the giant room where she would announce her messages to the Town and other lands who had people from them attend. And by surprise, at the same time Mario, Luigi and Daisy entered through the main entrance, which seemed to have died down in terms of the number of angry mob-people. Nobody knew where those three had been today, yet they arrive as if nothing bad has happened.

"Princess! How have you been today?" Mario skipped delightfully over towards Peach across the room, where there were the captives and several Toad brigade and police members holding them restraint.

"Mario!" She rushed over greeted him, along with Luigi and Daisy soon after. "Toads! Send these five to the dungeons; they will be released on the 10th."

"Well, look who it is, fool in yellow." Mario taunted Wario as he was held captive.

"We'll see who gets the last laugh when we roll in millions of coins after this! Stupid red plumber." Wario threatened back.

"We will be the rulers!" Waluigi laughed.

"In your dreams, skinny boy!" Luigi taunted back.

"Ha-ha, hope you don't mind fist to mouth after we're done here!" He yelled as the Brigade took them away.

"Fist to mouth?" Daisy stated, confused about the statement.

"Mouth to mouth?" Luigi looked back at Daisy, she blushed in response. "Smooth." She said. "But not now, something bad has happened it seems."

"Indeed, the city is in havoc, and that ass Koopak tried to assassinate me!" Peach mentioned.

"What else happened?" Mario asked in a sympathetic tone.

"We have 14 teams so far, and awaiting 2 more, we have until the 10th to get them all together. Bowser had delivered me back here thankfully to help address the teams."

"What are the teams?" Luigi asked.

"I can't quite remember, let's go back to my dormitory, I think the list is there."

_SEVERAL MINUTES LATER..._

The four arrived back to the top floor, where they could see the door to the dormitory wide open. To the left they saw broken shelves lighting a small fire in the room. Jack was leaning against the wall staring into the fire in deep thought, and Enrique was standing by the edge of the floor where the shattered remains of the window remained. He stood there feeling the wind from high up, and looking at the letter showing the names of all the contenders. As the four entered the room, Jack turned his attention to them but Enrique had his eyes glued to the text.

"Where were the other two that were here?" Peach asked Jack as he looked at her neutrally.

"Don't know, escaped maybe." He replied monotonously. "It's a mess down there if you hadn't seen already."

"I know I've seen it." She said as she walked over towards Enrique. Mario, Luigi and Daisy stood and stared around the room, looking at the mess the explosion had caused and the wind blowing everything away. Peach stood right next to him and looked into his eyes, still reading the text and thinking in his head. Enrique stopped reading the text and then gave Peach a long big hug, still holding onto the map.

"I saw him." He said, shortly before stopping the hug. "He tried to kill you... Not like Bowser when he would capture you and give Mario enough time for you to be saved by him. Literally, kill you."

"Let me have a look at this." Peach took the map off Enrique. "Outside now the rest of you, go." She ordered. The four others in the room went outside and Luigi sealed the door closed again. Enrique looked down at the city again using the binoculars to see many flames in the streets and barriers made by the brigade to stop people protesting. The sight filled sadness into Enrique, making him walk slowly backward and sit down against the wall.

"You're too powerful in these lands, people want you dead, and if you die it gets even worse." He sobbed sitting on the floor. Peach walked to her left and opened a door which led to a small cabinet with a fridge and draws. After a few seconds she got a bottle out of the fridge and poured herself a glass of champagne unsurprisingly. Royally she walked over and sat down next to Enrique, sipping some champagne and also enjoying the cool breeze coming from the massive gap in the castle.

"I'm not even mad." Enrique followed up, making Peach laugh a bit, she handed the letter back to Enrique. "Just an excuse for some private time." She said. Enrique looked back at the letter and skimmed through it one more time.

"You are lucky." He pointed at the text. "You wrote this. Somehow he wanted a trial by Double Dash as well." Peach sat next to him awkwardly finding out what to say.

"You see, me and Bowser go way back, although we are arch enemies we know how to end it in style. He will most likely lose these games and he will be slaughtered, when the Toads and Koopas see a just death, they will switch to living peacefully across all the southern lands. The only problems we will have left are Koopak and the north. Shamefully 5 years ago I had to let that one sway." She sipped more champagne, going down the glass quickly. "The biggest sporting industry here is karting, there will be tickets for all those wanting to watch whether it will be in local broadcasting areas or along the racetracks themselves, all this revenue is coming back into the government and we can help address all of the mishaps this land has currently got." She continued. "Do you want to race?" Enrique lay silently for a bit.

"It's ok if you don't want to. What's more important right now is solving what caused the town to turn into an angry mob. Thankfully the police should be solving that right now." She got up and walked over towards the view of the city, carrying her empty glass with her left hand. Soon after, Enrique joined her, both standing on the edge of the tall castle. Lights from the buildings and remaining bonfires shined across the town in a very anarchistic way. "I hope people will be happier tomorrow, one more day to the biggest competition ever in my eyes." She made Enrique think about the games more broadly, he remembered all those who gathered here today to sign up and those already included, but he felt he was not canon enough to enter. The sky had turned black now and most of the horizon was filled with bonfire smoke and stars above, it was rather a sad day in Mushroom City. Peach walked back towards the cabinet and fridge and placed her champagne glass back inside the draws. Secondly, she approached the door out of her dormitory to open the door for the others outside. All she could see outside when she looked through the doorway was Daisy waiting patiently. They gave each other a big, comforting hug before talking amongst themselves.

"Where are Mario and Luigi?" Peach asked Daisy.

"Down in town trying to help save people." She replied, as she looked through the doorway she jumped in surprise noticing the big removal in the room. "Aye! What happened here?" She asked loudly, walking through towards the edge to stare down at the town knowing she wasn't the first to do so.

"An explosion." Enrique stated. "By the infamous Koopak Asquia."

"Curse him, we all want him dead." Daisy growled, clenching her fists. "He's gonna pay for this!"

"It's ok, Daisy." Peach interrupted, walking back to the edge. "I wonder if not everybody in the Mushroom Kingdom likes me anymore, I don't know what I've done wrong."

"It's because there are spies in the lands, Bowser spies, Hostile spies, Koopak spies." Enrique answered, trying to convince Peach that a reformation needs to happen just like 5 years ago. "It's hard to trust everybody; these races need to happen sooner so we can decide what happens afterwards. Sometimes I feel that if Bowser loses and dies it would be worse off for us, remember those riots-."

"WHAT'S DONE IS DONE!" Peach yelled at Enrique. "Bowser is on trial! That cannot be revoked."

"We must do our best to beat him now Enrique, don't you see?" Daisy backed up Peach unaware of Enrique's knowledge on this.

"I see it all clearly! You don't know what I've seen in my years here. There's so many Koopas and Goombas that want you dead, I'm trying to keep you alive. Let's just hope nobody assassinates you _during_ the races, and then the whole world goes to sham." He yelled back, frightening the two. "If you want this to be a safe and competitive tournament, up the prices, up the security, and up the viewers. Make sure that everybody plays to win and that Bowser has nobody also playing who are willing to abuse you two and the Mario brothers per say by spamming shells at you. Nobody likes fake teams. Set up betting systems too, make more revenue from that. You will make lots of money to buy yourself enough security to keep the whole land fenced off from you. That way you can rule without worrying about a thing!" He went off in a lecturing rant at Peach.

"Good idea-." Daisy stated before being interrupted by the rage of Peach.

"ENRIQUE! GET OUT OF MY CASTLE BEFORE I SET THE BRIGADE ON YOU!"

"Fine!" He yelled back. "You want me to no longer support you! Then I'm signing up for these races too. Have it the way you want, because I sure as do know that what I just said was a perfect idea in your eyes." He stormed out of the room, turning left towards a castle balcony and disappearing. The two still stood in her dormitory silent and awkward.

"So, what did you think about his idea, of upping the prices and competition."

"Get Mario and Luigi, it's time to distribute the tickets, and assemble the last remaining teams. You and I will win this, Daisy, and I will show you the true meaning of power in these lands. Everybody is playing to win, and I will strictly remind the racers on that when we decide the courses. I will have a layout for everybody on the race deciding."

"What about Enrique, is he going to race with Tom?"

"Let him, he's probably rubbish. Follow me." Peach led Daisy out of the room and walked a series of stairs and corridors. "We aren't playing to show off our beauty, we are playing to win."

"Kart or bike?" Daisy asked. Peach hurried along with her towards a large room with a switch on the wall, as Peach flicked it the wall next to the two slid open revealing a larger, two-man version of the Mach Bike. Polished to shine and covered with an inlay of orange and pink, with a crown and flower shown on the front and sides. It also had grips at the back for the item user, along with enough space for the two to sit on.

"Have a seat." Peach offered smiling back at Daisy, who giggled. "Like you're the item holder." The two practiced their seat on the bike. It felt comfortable for both of them as Daisy nodded back at Peach.

"And swap." The two quickly shifted their butts and legs to swap places. They sat on each other's dresses, but other than that Daisy seemed confident in the driver position and Peach the same at the item holder seat. They both began giggling loudly at each other.

"We're so gonna win." Daisy laughed.

"Who cares about Mario and Luigi, we're better than them!" Peach laughed as well as the two got off the bike. She flicked the switch again and slid the door back to keep the bike secure.

"I wonder what everyone else has to offer with their vehicles." Daisy thought.

"Let's get some sleep." Peach walked over to a button which when pressed displayed voice announcements to those inside. "Toads please come and clear up the mess in my dormitory, you will be paid overtime for this." She announced. "Time to go to bed."

"What about Mario and Luigi and the tickets?" Daisy reminded.

"Oh." Peach laughed again. "Tomorrow we will do that." She escorted Daisy to Peach's bedroom, on the same floor as her dormitory which was used for meetings and battle plans. The two giggled as they left through the doorway...

_ABOUT 20 HOURS EARLIER..._

In the middle of the night off the pipes of Piranha Plant Pipeway, a Magikoopa, an Ape, and a Human were confronted by a bright torchlight, blinding the three as the luminosity stood out against the sky's darkness. The user quickly turned off her torch and then re-used it facing the floor.

"Who are you?" Tom asked, continuing off from their previous conversation.

"I am a guide to freedom." The Koopa that wielded the torch invoked a message. "I'm kidding with you, the name's Jeanette." She joked. "You'll thank me later."

"Excuse me?" Tom seemed confused.

"The message, I saved you from the Luigi." She nudged Tom, reminding him of a couple days back.

"Oh I see. Well what are you doing out here in the darkness?" He asked. Kamek and Donkey Kong looked at each other side by side, lost in the conversation. DK scratched his head awkwardly while they talked, looking around at the grass and the buildings leading back to Mushroom City in front of him.

"Hiding, looking for you, I have to tell you the news." Jeanette praised, seeming unusually happy at this nightly hour. "We must walk back to the city, important things are happening. There's a new tournament in town and oh boy, I am going to be rich soon!" She jumped with joy, dancing along the bumpy grassland and swirling around the nearby small trees. Tom was shocked with surprise but soon hurried on following her. Kamek and DK still looked really confused.

"She seems a bit odd doesn't she?" Kamek yelled at Tom, loud enough for him to hear but not for Jeanette who was further ahead to hear.

"All I know is that when I was with Daisy the other night, I got tracked down by Luigi and the Brigade. All of a sudden I woke up in this safe room and apparently she got me there safely." He turned his head to talk back, proceeding through the grassland and onto the path back to Toad Town. The path the four went on led them to a tiny settlement on the edge of Mushroom City called Kalinka. All there was were four building blocks, two of them being apartments. Jeanette slowed her pace down as she approached the road, there she could see if anybody was able to see her. No Toad was in sight.

"Rest here tonight." Jeanette said as she opened a back door into an apartment block, followed by stairs leading upward. Be quiet and careful, there are people sleeping here. They settled on the fifth floor, Jeanette opened up two rooms, one for Donkey Kong, the other for Kamek and Tom. Next door to Kamek and Tom's was Jeanette's room, which after she said her goodnights walked in and locked her door. Kamek noticed a bed on one side of the room and immediately jumped into it. Tom took a bit more time to get into his, more concerned about Jeanette. He put his head against the wall trying to hear in to any conversation that might be happening in her room and whether or not anybody else is in there. He looked back at Kamek who had turned his duvet over aside to sleep. Then he could start to hear voices.

"We will go tomorrow night."

"Let me sleep."

"Don't go back into Mushroom City again. There's too much danger there."

"My son is there."

"He's not my son."

"And you're not his mother! His mother is gone! I have to raise him all myself, and certainly not anywhere here."

"I don't care about your son. I'm only here to save you from the impending doom that is government!"

"Say that to your council friends, I'm sure they want me saved too."

He heard quiet weeping from the other apartment. Tom walked over and opened the balcony door to see if it could help him hear what's being said. To his right, he saw Jeanette walk out onto her balcony. Her face was red with tears going down it; all he could see her do was stare into the horizon sadly. Tom was curious about the mention of the word 'council'. He was tempted to ask but instead he waited to see if she would notice him.

Jeanette soon turned to her left. "Why are you awake?" She cried, sobbing a bit more.

"I'll go and sleep shortly, why are you upset?" Tom counter-questioned. He made Jeanette look down in anxiety, knowing that he heard in to the conversation.

"Leave the man alone in there." She covered up her tears. "He's done nothing wrong but everyone wants him dead. All I have to do is get him so far north nobody will go after him." Tom examined Jeanette even more by looking at her in depth. She seemed confused.

"You're a member." He claimed. "You're doing this for peace."

"And for money." She laughed nervously.

"You don't have to risk your life for this, what did the others say?"

"There's not many of us left, many non-footmen. Archbarn and the gang said I should be killing him, but wise old Muji said do what I think is right. His father is gone and he was the one that did all the traitorous acts. All Koopak has is a large sum of money from it." Tom thought deeply in his head.

"That's why Peach wants him dead." He stated. "He has money."

"He is going to pay me 90% of his money if I get him beyond the northern lands safely."

"You won't be able to." Tom interrupted. "It's too dangerous, get him into the tournament."

"I'm not allowed." The voice of Koopak Asquia II came from the apartment room; the red-shelled Koopa also stepped out onto the balcony of their apartment. "We meet... for the first time, Mr. Tûnis."

"Yeah." Tom said awkwardly. "A lot of people want you for your money." He scratched his neck at the presence of Koopak.

"And I cannot go into the races, I sure as well would love to, it would also be a great way to go in the end, but I would get probably be killed by Princess Peach's army and they'll put on all the telegrams that I died in a 'tragic accident' or something." He moaned while trying to open his tired eyes fully.

"Understandable." Tom replied. "You're a lucky man to have Jeanette, a lovely Koopa, help you on your way to enlightenment." Koopak smirked, looking next to Jeanette. She looked back at him and smiled, but also tired.

"Maybe I could if I had security; I could check tomorrow and see."

"You're not going back there again! We need to go to Moo Moo Meadows to collect your supplies for your journey." Jeanette interrupted by sealing Koopak's mouth, she put on a worried face as she turned back to the apartment. "Time to sleep now, same with you, Tom." Jeanette and Koopak walked back into their apartment, going to sleep in the same double bed.

"I'm going to stay for a bit longer." Tom saw the two close their apartment door and do their curtains closed. He then did the same with his but stayed outside. The clouds in the sky started to clear while staring into the distance. The Moon was bright and halfway through its period in the sky. As he looked slightly below the moon, he caught a glimpse of several thicker clouds in the sky. Unusually, he noticed some green and brownish colours mixed with the clouds. Tom opened up the apartment door to search for a telescope or binoculars if there were any. He was very intrigued by the look of the figure in the sky; it reminded him of something he really enjoyed when he was younger, if only he could find a way to get there. Tom went back outside annoyed at the fact he couldn't find one inside the apartment without waking up Kamek. This then gave him only one choice: to warp dimensions back to Earth...

It was very early in the morning as he warped back to one of the three portals to the other worlds.

**Bexley, England.**

He was in a tiny room filled with metal walls and a slanted roof, to his right however was a movable wall acting as a door to the room. On the other side showed complete darkness as it was still very late at night. He was in a school department office though it was familiar to him as he had been here many times before to get to and out of the other dimension. Tom walked over to a desk filled with books and writing tools that he was also familiar with, searching draws hoping to find binoculars he may have left here.

"A-ha. There they are." He said to himself as he found a pair in the bottom drawer of what looked like his desk. He shifted the wall again and closed himself back into the cramped metal-wall room, ready to warp back into the other dimension and back to the hotel.

It was already sunrise. Tom had only been gone for about two earth-minutes and the sun was already past the horizon in the sky. He could still see the thick clouds and green and brown colours in the same location as before. Thankfully nobody was awake yet as he appeared onto the balcony again. As he used the binoculars, he noticed that the green colours were vines and the brown colours appeared as old ships. He wondered what this could be, and how to get there as it had amazed him in a nostalgic sense. The sound of the moving door to the balcony startled Tom as Kamek appeared awake inside the apartment. Tom turned around shocked as he forgot Kamek was in the room as well.

"Have you been out here all night?" He asked interrogatingly at Tom, giving an unconvincing look back to him.

"I slept out here." Tom lied, also trying to hide the binoculars. "It was a warm night." He elaborated, trying to convince Kamek but his facial expression did not seem to change.

"Well, I think the others are awake." Kamek, knowing Tom was lying but unsure what he actually did, gave him information to keep up the conversation.

"They were here outside on their balcony at night as well. Jeanette and the other person in her apartment." He elaborated on his time outside at night. Kamek seemed to start believing Tom now as he walked onto the balcony and turned to his right, looking at the balcony of Jeanette and Koopak. The door looked unlocked, he finally believed him.

"Fair enough. I don't blame you guys, everything feels so different recently."

"I wonder why." Tom laughed. "There are so many shitty things happening all at the same time now. I need to find out what Bowser's up to at the moment. There are only a few days until the races are planned and begin. Full support I will give to him."

"I wonder myself if DK is awake, and what he's going to do. Don't you think he's been acting... different lately? He seems to be very unaware of everything going on at the moment."

"Wait until the races come around, he has to race and so he should really be practicing. Now all he is doing is following us around." Tom looked back up to the figure in the sky.

"Let's see him. He should be awake by now." Kamek walked towards the exit of the apartment, quickly opening the door to notice that the door opposite, to Donkey Kong's apartment was slightly left open.

"Why did you leave the door open?" Tom heard Kamek shout at DK from the other room.

"I went to get food." He replied quieter than Kamek. Tom was unable to hear anything else as he stayed back in his apartment. Shortly after, he heard his phone buzzing. He took it out of his pocket and noticed he was receiving a call from 'Luke Loggins'.

"Hey." Tom replied

"Hi. Where are you?"

"I'm at a small settlement outside Mushroom City, it's called Kalinka. Where are you?"

"I'm just outside Mushroom City coming on the road from Sirenna. Is it safe to go into Mushroom City?" Luke asked as he pulled up on the side looking at a map of The Mushroom Kingdom, spotting Kalinka on the northeast side of Mushroom City.

"No, definitely not, find a way round to us, we're at an apartment block but we'll go outside and see you." Luke paused for a short moment examining his map.

"There's a road that goes straight to Isle Port from here, why don't I see if the twins are available to meet up tonight as well."

"No." Tom interrupted just as Luke mentioned the word twins. "They won't be at their new house. I haven't seen them for a very long time and I don't think they're planning to come back here anytime soon. Just come round to meet us, we can't afford any more people being caught by the Toad Brigade or Police any time soon."

"I'll see you soon then." Luke hung up on the phone. Tom placed his phone back into his trouser pocket and walked out the apartment door, the voices of Kamek and DK seemed more identifiable now as he opened DK's apartment door widely to enter. He saw the two sitting outside on a further balcony to the other ones talking about what seemed to be their future. Their conversation came to a halt as Tom walked outside on to the balcony with them as well. Both Kamek and DK were sitting down on chairs but Tom awkwardly tried to find another chair nearby and didn't seem to see any, so instead he just rested his elbow onto the top of the balcony balusters.

"It seems like we are both worried about our future, Tom. As we've just realised what happens if Bowser loses." Kamek stated, looking depressed on his chair

"I have no wealth as well..." DK moaned also. "What's the plan? Meet at Mushroom City?"

"It's a viable idea." Tom agreed. "It's where all the other humans are going tonight."

"Bowser better be there." DK mentioned. "I need to talk to him about this, are people like us supposed to beat him as well?"

"It said the prize is all of Bowser's money. Which I know is millions of gold coins. Although I think the important award is being considered the best double-dash duo in history." Donkey Kong looked convinced and began to smile. "If Bowser wins he is set free so it's like going back to the old times."

"What old times?" Kamek interrupted. "The boring captures of the princess? Then we see an uprising in the north due to the evil-doers there? A war is brewing; I think it will happen literally as these races end." Tom's eyes twitched at that statement.

"You may be right, and more and more 'sides' in this war seem to be forming as time goes on. There are people in this world that if killed, will create a war simply like that. Peach, Bowser."

"Koopak Asquia." Kamek added. "All his followers would revolt."

"So the three richest people in the lands..." DK proclaimed. "Those deaths could start a war."

"What about Mario? What if he died?" Tom asked the two.

"Ha-ha." Donkey Kong giggled. "Pauline..." He dreamt in his head.

"I don't know." Kamek said whilst staring at DK dreaming. "Maybe, but I'm sure there is definitely going to be a war due to all of these disagreements. We need a new ruler or rulers in these lands that can unite everybody." Tom noticed in the distance a vehicle approaching the settlement, oddly driving off-road and rather slowly. He used his binoculars to see that it was Luke having trouble with the vehicle.

"Our ride is here; time to go into the city boys."

"What about Jeanette?" Kamek asked.

"She's got her own troubles, let's leave her be." Tom led the two outside by turning to go downstairs to the exit of the building. Jeanette, from her apartment door, stared at them before they turned to the stairs.

"Thank you." She whispered out loud...

**EOC: This fanfic was finished shortly after I completed the other fanfics. Approximately October 2017, this gives you readers a guideline of my pace in the progress of these chapters. Races will be happening soon so stay in touch. If you have any questions or want to make more bets on who will win etc give me a review or PM me, and I'll get back to you.**

**Also check my profile; it has a lot of information divided by topics so you can have a look at anything you're interested in.**

**See you next time!**


	5. Peach and Daisy

Fighting in the Streets

Chapter 5 – Peach and Daisy

**A/N: This will be the first full chapter made after my rebirth in 2017, the date of the beginning of this fanfic is 23/10/2017.**

**Disclaimer: I don't know Nintendo and its things. But I really do like the look of Odyssey.**

**January 7, 2015 (1) – Sometime in the morning**

**Cloudtop Cruise, somewhere in the Sky**

Brightness.

After lots of hectic difficulties trying to get here, Enrique stood on top of an old airship lying on the race track. It was difficult to maintain movement as the ship lay at an angle towards the direction of gravity. He slipped a few times on his way to the control system inside one of the ships. Next to the window of one of the ships lied a set of controls, with buttons and switches. Enrique looked at the text imprinted next to some of the switches and buttons, along with all of the other configurations for the race track.

"Race Enabled." Enrique pulled a lever directly above the words shown on the control system. He felt a light earthquake sound but no vibrations as he pulled the lever. The track did not seem to be affected as he looked out of the window until he saw at the bottom a gliding platform launcher lighting up and showing the blue lights and arrows pointing towards the dark set of clouds. The tiny lightning strikes also began to appear inside the dark area.

"Enable items." He pulled another lever and looked out of the ship window again. The item boxes began to appear on the track, floating around in a shiny blue colour. Now the track began to look interesting to race on.

"Enable coins." Enrique said again to himself as he looked at the next switch. He looked out of the window as he pulled that lever and the coins started to appear as well.

"Enable gravitational system." He flicked the fourth switch, which caused a colourful vibration to appear across the track. It lit up, especially in the dark cloud area and on the other ship where the light clouds led to on the race from a ramp.

Enrique now came across the buttons. The first one read 'Activate Lakitu Security' but was unable to be pressed as a further message inside the button read 'No Lakitus Detected.'

"Hmm." He said to himself as he examined the other buttons which then led to more switches.

'Activate Tricks'

'Activate Buoyancy' "For the bouncing platforms it seems."

'Emergency Stop' Enrique didn't press any of the buttons but instead moved over to the next set of levers. The first one he saw had text to the left reading 'number of players', a key input at the bottom of it and a key left loosely inside the lock, and a small digital screen showing the number '7'. Enrique pulled the lever down, watching the number on the digital screen decrease singularly down to 2. He then pulled the lever back up and the number ascended to 12. He was amazed at the system in his head, though his facial expression covered up his excitement.

Enrique looked back down to the key loosely inside the input. He held the key and placed it in firmly and turned it to the right, a digital sound played and he noticed the number on the screen switched to 16. He tried pulling the lever down again with the key inside but nothing changed on the screen. He flicked it up instead and the number changed to 32.

"Interesting." He thought in his head as he realised what they key was for, a preliminary add-on to the race track if it was selected in the future races. Oddly enough the entire track and its surrounding areas were empty, now he could see what it's like to race on the course. The final lever on the right side of the control system was 'Time Trial Mode', when he pulled the lever all of the items on the track disappeared. He decided to switch the lever back off to re-enable the items. His interest depicted the want of having the items back on the track just so he could see how they work.

Enrique has had little experience in driving on tracks. However, he does know how to drive a normal vehicle. As he got out of the ship with the control system he rushed over towards the ship area of the track and landed onto the black ramps after jumping down. The gravity system changed and he adapted to standing directly straight on the slanted track path. He could see brown barrels scattered across the track as well, perhaps containing something good or bad but of interest. Enrique approached one of them and kicked it, breaking the barrel and revealing the typical faced banana landing slightly further away that the barrel's original location. This made Enrique think that the push force of breaking the barrel affects the distance the object inside travels forward. He grinned, approaching the banana, trying to pick it up. But instead, as he touched it the banana spun up in the air causing Enrique to slip and spin in a circle before making him trip up and collapse down to the ground again. He sighed in thought, noticing the banana had disappeared. This only made him eager to investigate more. He turned to his body to the left, looking at the coins that lay out on the track followed by items. Attracted to the coins, he got up and dashed towards them, intrigued at their use in the races. Just before approaching he halted to look down on it, the golden coin spun and bounced hovering over the ground. Enrique squatted by the coin and attempted to move his hand over it to collect it. Instead, his hand phased through it, making no proper interaction with the coin. He sighed, and then walked over to the item blocks. These two were hovering and rotating, with the question mark always facing his vision, he tried moving around an item block to notice that the question mark always faced his vision no matter what side he was staring at the block. Inside he felt amazed and interested with joy; his adrenaline from the amazement forced him to swipe his hand to collect the block.

It was successful, the block shattered, revealing a randomised item in his hand, changing and changing and changing from banana, to shell, to star, to POW block... "POW Block?" He thought. "But those were from years ago? Why are they in Cloudtop Cruise?" He said in his head. The item stopped and eventually revealed a red shell. It looked exactly like the ones in the game he thought, full of detail. It was hollow with a white inlay around the red and the cream coloured bottom to it. Enrique attempted to throw it onto the floor like he was deploying it during a race. This caused it to speed off and travel up the gravity ramp past the cannon and into the dark lightning area, disappearing from his vision.

Enrique picked up another item. It shuffled along, changing and changing eventually giving him three mushrooms. Now he was confused, how would these work without a kart? He tried throwing one onto the floor, with the other two still in his hand, but the mushroom just lied facing upward on the floor. Then he decided to grab one, it disappeared. Nothing happened. He grabbed the second one in his hand and then did the same to the third one on the floor. As he looked up he noticed the item blocks again.

*piano-resembling sounds*

A star.

"Haha!" He yelled, grabbing it and turning multicoloured. He noticed his body flash brightly as the tune of acquiring a star was played. He noticed the red shell coming back around in the circuit heading straight towards him. Enrique, with increased speed dashed towards the red shell causing it to collide and disappear.

"Ha, I so want to race now!" He said happily, running back to play around with more item boxes.

*piano-resembling sounds*

Blue shell...

"Eh heheh." He sweated, noticing it was idle in his hand. Now he was completely scared at what it could do. Tempted to make a risk, Enrique wanted to throw it to see what it could do but at the same thought he would expect it to go for him if nobody else was around. He walked slowly back along to the ramp leading to the ship in the circuit of Cloudtop Cruise and tried to climb up going along the circuit backwards, being very careful not to drop the blue shell and set it loose. Now he walked along thick clouds and vines, en route back to the start line. The only thing stopping him now is the obligatory bounce at the start which separated him from the giant vine path at the start.

"Oh for hell's sake." Enrique lobbed the blue shell in the air, instead of going straight for him as he expected, it sped back along the circuit in the air using its wings and back around to the ship, heading straight into the dark lightning area. He turned his head along the dark clouded area and watched the blue shell speed out of the other side of it. Right before the exit he saw it stop and slam onto a kart randomly left out on the track. The kart flipped in the air after the blue shell exploded, landing upright and normal. This made Enrique willing to use that kart, but he was aware that he was split off by a Bowser-themed Bouncer platform. He remembered that he did not press the button to enable Buoyancy, assuming that he would not bounce upward on the platform, Enrique leapt onto the platform, falling onto it safely and firmly on it. He got up and attempted a second jump back onto the vines. He noticed that this was very dangerous without any Lakitus to save those who fall... after he completed his second jump. Now the kart was in walking distance to Enrique. As he approached it, he examined the kart, resembling a suitable Standard Kart M, just the right size for him. However it included an extra add-on to the vehicle, it had a seat at the back. Perhaps for another player? He thought as he got into the vehicle.

"Now let's see how this thing works again." He said confidently readying up the vehicle to go.

"I wouldn't recommend it here, Enrique." A feminine voice out of nowhere advised from behind. He turned his head. It was Rosalina in her turquoise dress.

"You've missed a lot recently." He complained at her presence, she flew down walking towards him with a happy look. "In fact, have we even met since 2010?" She ignored his question and walked around the vehicle to the front of it.

"Where did you find this vehicle?" She counter-questioned.

"That means no." Enrique, who knew a lot about Rosalina, had not actually encountered her in person ever since she took him to this world. "It was right here." He answered.

"Well, this course is definitely not a safe one to do without any Lakitus to save you from falling. Because, you know, you're definitely going to fall off. You want to race in the races?" She asked, inspecting the vehicle.

"Well, it would be fun. And hey! I'm not rubbish, I won't fall off!"

"Oh really?" She smirked

"Really, I'll show you!" He readied up his kart, about to speed off.

"Stop! Why would you drive now, you've set this circuit up horribly! You forgot to turn Buoyancy on, and if you're going to practice at least select Time Trial Mode." She complained. "Stay there." Rosalina launched herself magically in the air and flew towards the ship with the control system inside. Enrique noticed the bounce platforms began to inflate slightly, and the item boxes disappeared from the track. Rosalina came back to the start line where his vehicle was placed.

"Don't fall off." She smiled. "Wait a second, get out of the kart." She got down on the right side of the vehicle and stuck her hand underneath, flicking a switch.

"It's at 150cc now." She grinned at Enrique.

"We have a lot to talk about." He got back into the car and pointed his finger at Rosalina interrogatingly, soon driving off. She watched him disappear and onto the track slowly...

...

"How did I do?" Enrique said happily coming back to the start line where Rosalina was.

"That was terrible! You took two minutes! We do a lap on average in one!" She moaned as he stopped his kart. "You didn't perform any tricks, nor did you do any proper drifting. I'm not even going to talk about fire hopping."

"I didn't fall off though and that's all I was trying to prove, so your fault there." Enrique joked around while Rosalina pulled a straight face. "And plus, how are you going to fire hop when you're racing in double-dash format?" She facepalmed.

"Everyone's going to beat you and whoever you're with. Do you know any new racers?"

"I had a list of all of them back at Peach's Castle. It was like 9, Toadbert and Toadsworth. 10, Hammer Bro and Fire Bro. 11, Funky Kong and Cranky Kong."

"Oh dear, Funky Kong." Rosalina moaned. Enrique kept talking.

"12, Shy Guy and Lakitu. 13, King Boo and Petey and 14, Dry Bones and Kamek."

"Seems like quite a difficult roster for you, especially when I appear in it."

"Trust me, Tom's probably going to be the driver, he can drift properly and perform tricks. I'm only here in the case where I need to drive."

"And have you talked to Tom about this?" Enrique was left speechless.

"We will talk about it. If I can find him after this, I haven't seen him for a couple days now." He eventually replied. "But we will sign up, there's two spaces left last time I was told. Bowser signed up everybody at Peach's castle. Why don't you sign up?" He suggested.

"I want to!" She yelled back. "But I don't know who to go with, nobody else is good enough." She joked and then laughed. "But seriously, who is there, do you know?" Enrique thought.

"What about your brother?" Rosalina wondered.

"You know he is really good as well, I remember he qualified for the sixth tournament, you know the one where they introduced tricks, and 12 racers, but then he was disqualified... So no to that, can't trust him."

"Dry Bowser?"

"What? What's Dry Bowser?"

"Nevermind."

"Who else?"

"Pauline?" Rosalina froze, confusing Enrique. "That's a good suggestion, I think she has karted before, but she will have to know how to bike. We'll be racing in my modified Twinkle Star, it's large enough for both of us and she would need to have a biker outfit weaved for her. Any place I can find her?"

"Donk City?"

"Where's that?"

"Delfino somewhere I think."

"Well I'm going to find her then. Before I leave, there's some things that you'll need to get familiar with in your kart, I'm guessing you'll use this one for it." She leaned over into the kart and pointed at some contraptions near the pedals. There was a button underneath press-able using the left leg which she pointed to.

"This button raises your kart, it allows you to drift, and whatever the way you're turning the wheel will make you drift in that direction. Don't mess up when doing so, and don't annoy Tom too. And do not practice here or you will fall off." She boosted herself up into the air again. "We will talk again." She said before flying away.

"How can I get down from here?" He called.

"I've called a Lakitu to come and collect you and you're kart. You'll be dropped on the open fields to the southeast." She disappeared beyond hearing distance. The remark she gave was triggering, but Enrique just sat in the kart and put his feet up waiting for a Lakitu...

Any minute now...

"Good morning there sir, want a lift down?" A Lakitu appeared in front of Enrique's vision after a couple hours of waiting. Enrique, who was just sleeping, woke up in his kart, noticing the Lakitu. His eyes were half closed and his legs still on the front of the kart, but he began to stretch his limbs as if he wasn't paying full attention.

"Ah!" He was startled at the Lakitu.

"Sorry I'm late." The Lakitu apologised. "I've been new to the Mushroom Kingdom and I'm not used to helping up others in my cloud."

"Don't worry." Enrique said quietly. "I've had a good nap."

"My name's Jagem, do you want me to lift you down?"

"Sure." Lakitu approached the standard kart with Enrique inside. "Wait a minute." He stopped Jagem. "Jagem? I've heard news about you." The Lakitu didn't seem to care and carried on with the lifting. "No, I'm serious. You know Koopak right?"

"I used to, he befriended us by not telling us all his secrets, couldn't trust the guy. Bethel always had a soft side for him."

"Did you just say Bethel Koopa?" Enrique asked with excitement, he hadn't heard of that name in years.

"Yep."

"Where was he last?" Lakitu began to descend downwards below the clouds.

"At Wuhu volcano where the rest of us were, New Year's Day. About a week ago." Enrique laughed. "I think he might've died in battle there, I don't know for sure."

"WHAT?" Enrique's expression became opposite. "Not him!"

"Why?" Jagem monotonously asked.

"He was a good friend of mine too, many years back. Back when I first came here actually." Enrique worried as they descended. "I want to see him again one day."

"If you're his friend you'd know that he's always in a different location around the world."

"Yeah I know. I'll find a way." The kart eventually approached the ground, it was on an open meadow with path on the edge, Mushroom City lies a couple miles northeast, and the district of Sirenna lies just at the end of the meadow to the east.

"So do you guys do this kind of stuff during the races?" Enrique asked before Jagem would soon disappear.

"No, those ones are bots of us that do that job. What we do now is offer forms of transport for those using the cloud faces, or simply throw red spike shells at Mario and co. Not recently though. It explains why we got _the_ Lakitu in the races last year. I heard he's going to be racing this time too, with Shy Guy. They'll have a lot of fans." He stated.

"I agree." Enrique nodded. "Lots of people will have lots of fans. Bowser and his son will have fans, The Kongs will have fans, Peach and Daisy will have thousands of fans, Koopa and Paratroopa, Hammer and Fire Bro."

"Those two are racing?"

"Yeah ha."

"Amazing! That will liven up the competition. Who else?"

"Well, Dry Bones and Kamek are racing. Do you think they'll have fans?"

"Many, the main Koopa crowds love them too.

"There are two Kong teams, Funky and Cranky."

"Funky Kong is going to wreck, I assure you." Jagem said rather proudly. "They'll have fans."

"There are the Mario brothers, Wario brothers."

"More fans."

"Yoshi and Birdo."

"Yoshi fans."

"Toad and Toadette."

"Toad fans."

"Toadbert and Toadsworth." Jagem paused.

"Those two? I don't think they'll have a lot of fans." He wondered.

"Perhaps, they will have some, but not many." The two agreed.

"King Boo and Petey?"

"Many fans, spooky fans haha." Enrique ran out of who to think of.

"There's 14 confirmed so far." He said, waiting to tell Jagem his desire to become part of the grand tournament. "Maybe a friend of mine and I are planning to sign up, too." Jagem laughed out of spite, followed by a smirk.

"I got told Rosalina wants to join with a friend of hers, that would be it all set then? As for you, I don't know if you'll have fans." Jagem thought while chilling on his cloud. He untied the rod from the kart so it was stably down on to the floor.

"There's a couple days left anyway."

"Indeed there are, I will see you soon maybe, I hope you're ready for it!" Jagem waved goodbye and flew away quickly.

"I've got to find Bowser." Enrique said to himself before driving onwards north, heading to the mountain range to see if he could get access to Bowser's Castle.

**Peach's Castle (Fixed) – Around the same time**

Peach and Daisy turned into the dormitory, which had been refurbished and sealed up by the Toads working in the castle all night. Mario and Luigi approached them from behind, overly tired.

"Me and-a Luigi are gonna crash out in the spare room."

"We-a very tired from all the hard work from helping others last night." The two slowly mouldered out of the area while Peach said nothing staring at them. All the toads working in the room began to walk out after they sealed the window, all the dust and glass fragments were cleared from the floor and it was safe to stay in the room now. All the maps had been put safely onto the shelves, but some of them have been damaged, there were no usable maps of the North. The two rushed into the room quickly closing the door behind them as the last Toad left and locked the door.

"What is the plan for this then Peach?" Daisy asked as she sat herself down on one of the chairs next to the main table.

"Listen up, I need to send a global broadcast to address every contender so far to meet at the main square of Toad Town, at a time most convenient when there are no other non-racers nearby, this message needs to go out to the other two teams we are still waiting for. I am not sure who they are yet but we have many scholars who have the 14 others confirmed. Toadsworth, being a racer only has the knowledge of how the races will be decided so far, there was a message sent to him this morning about it. Everybody must also show up on the 10th with their double-dash suited vehicle. Those who have not got one already must see the mechanics in the city that can make one vehicle of their request within 24 hours of asking. Since we already have our super Mach Bike we don't need to worry about this. Toadsworth and Toadbert have a larger version of the Concerto I reckon." Peach cleared the table in front of both of them and unravelled a huge map of all the southern lands. "Everybody here is going to be a spectator, they will be cheering for at least one team out of those selected and we have to design the points system as well."

"Tell me how the races are going to be selected." Daisy asked. Peach stretched her hands before lecturing again.

"The 10th is going to be a very busy day. I will retell everybody racing how the points will be allocated. There will be 32 races, 32 racers. This means that everybody gets to choose one race. You can choose your race by that day." Daisy smiled after that sentence. "All those races will be put in to a seed, though my race will be first and Bowser's will be last. This means the first race is Mushroom City, we will have to clear the roads for that one. Additionally, for the first race there will be a random allocation of where everybody starts, then for each race after that the first place starts the next race first and the same applies to every other position." Peach pressed a button signalling an alarm throughout the castle. Several Toad servants rushed up and arrived outside the door. "I have a message to send." Peach addressed to Daisy as she got up and walked over to the large door.

" _My Toads, I have a message to give to the world, specifically the racers, please meet at the Mushroom Square at Toad Town at 10am, on the 10_ _th_ _, and tell them to bring their karts, if they have not been told already._ " The toads bowed and dashed down the corridor and out of Peach's vision. She looked back at Daisy, who was trying to hold in a laugh while cracked up on her chair.

"This is going to be fun!" She cheered.

"Indeed." Peach walked back into the room and walked over towards her cabinet. "Anyone else who wants to join the races have to speak to me or Bowser now, and he's probably back in his castle."

"You know we're missing a very important person in these races, Peach."

"Who's that person?"

"Rosalina." Peach stopped as she got to her cabinet and looked around to Daisy.

"You're right!" She agreed. "If she can find someone however... That's what she needs to do. Anyway, we have more important stuff to deal with right now." Daisy moved her chair towards the centre table and looked at the giant map. Peach walked back to the table and brought a chair over as well. Afterwards, she instead went over to the shelves and selected any possible maps of the north she could find. The only one that she managed to find was a rail map of all the stations in the lands, surveying hundreds of towns including some northern ones. Peach shoved the large south map aside and placed it on to the table. Annoyingly the sides of it rolled up again like a scroll, so both of them tried to flatten it out.

"Bare with me Daisy." Peach said as she walked back to the cabinet.

"Don't tell me you're having champagne at this hour." Daisy grinned.

"No, no." Peach laughed. "I'm just getting some old place mats to keep the map flat." She returned to the table placing the mats on the corners of the giant map, now lay a large scale-printed view of Muhu Delfethal and the minor outlying islands with only the towns of each rail station implemented on. "This is not very helpful." Peach stated as she examined the map, looking carefully especially at the north as many towns in the north do not have rail access. "The north is becoming a concern again. Especially to do with these northwestern areas, I feel as if they're going to plot a violent attack on us during the races." She moved towards the top end of the table, where Résethal was closest, and placed her white-gloved hands on to the table, pointing around various northwestern places. Soon after attempting to read upside down, she pointed onto two areas connected by the rail system. Two familiar towns: Dargo and Marukh.

"You know what I mean when I say 'hostiles' right?" Peach looked up at Daisy as she was focusing her eyes on Sarasaland to the south. She looked back at Peach and nodded, then walked around the table to stand next to Peach. "There are several towns here which are full of the evil-doers and the ones that want me dead. The last time I heard from the Red Martyr council they have been at war ever since we got Tom and Enrique in to this world. In between the 10th and the first race I need to travel back to Aypyidaw to meet with some of the people there to see if we can address this problem. It can be worse than I think as well." Peach continued, following with a sigh, unsure on her plan with the north in relation to the races. She began to realise that she cannot block off the north from viewing some of the competition. Knowing Koopa Troopa he would select Koopa Cape or Koopa Beach, both of these race tracks lie on the eastern coast of Résethal, near Urscan.

"What's the nearest race track from Dargo and Marukh then? Or any nearby town associated with Hostiles?" Daisy asked as Peach went over to the cupboards on the other side of the room to get a thick pen marker. She walked back to the giant map and drew an area containing the two cities and any other dangerous towns that were nearby.

"The nearest race track is probably... shit..." Peach dropped her face onto the map. "Wario Colosseum..." Daisy sunk her head onto the table as well.

"That place is underground, and it has a good audience capacity too, you know so many northerners are going to watch that one." She stated as Peach was still moaning with her face on the map. Suddenly, she shot right back up but with an evil look on her face.

"Let it happen, I don't want to be a killjoy out of it, just up the security as Enrique said. This upcoming war is irreversible and it's best if we outweigh them monetarily." She laughed tyrannically. "Let's start making those tickets!"

"But how are we able to when we don't even know what races are being chosen?" Daisy asked, lifting her head up from the table.

"Good point, I will format a copy and just change the name of the race track, then we can get all the Toad workers in the Kingdom to start producing the tickets. We need to make sure that we make enough for the capacity of each race. Start a base price for a ticket to be 2 gold coins, in that specific currency, the banks will be busy this week!" Peach jumped around excited. "Oh I just remembered; I'm going to release the prisoners now so they can collect their vehicles and race choices. Follow me Daisy!" She jumped with joy out of the room, Daisy rushed behind her holding her dress up.

"You know, I wouldn't mind changing in to some better clothes now, like my biker outfit!"

**Donk City, Far North Delfino**

**12:00PM, January 7**

The bright sun shined on the Pianta citizens throughout the town, many of them decided to sit outside their cafés and rest in the shade so they didn't sweat as much. Lots of drinks were spilled as Piantas gasped at Rosalina who came rushing through the town, in search for Pauline. She came across a large building with a fancy red carpet at the entranceway. Rosalina looked up and inspected any of the windows to see if she could find Pauline. Perhaps she was performing Rosalina thought as she hurried in to the building. As soon as she headed through the main door she bumped into a Toad carrying boxes of CDs, causing him to fall over and drop all of the topped boxes on to the floor.

"Argh!"

"I'm so sorry." Rosalina apologised to the angry Toad.

"Watch where you're going you big lady!" He complained. Rosalina rushed to the floor to pick up the boxes all in one.

"Where do they all go?" The Toad was startled.

"Over there." He pointed to a cupboard at the end of the right corridor. Rosalina rushed ahead carrying the boxes carefully and placed them all inside quickly, then she smiled back at the less-angry Toad. "Well, thank you." He said smoothly.

"You're welcome." Rosalina replied kindly. "Do you know where I might be able to find Pauline?" The Toad scratched his mushroom head.

"Last time I saw her, she was leaving to take a train north. To that embassy town I don't remember the name."

"Aypyidaw. Thanks." She said quietly as she headed out of the building.

"What?" The Toad misheard as Rosalina brushed past him, he spun around and stared at her in confusion. "Cosmic people." He scratched his mushroom head more. She quickly exited the building and turned to her right to look at the direction signs. Donk City station was a couple roads away on the northwest edge of town.

As she finally reached the station, she came across a notice board showing the platforms and their destinations.

**2 min – Delfino Capital (D) – P1**

**3 min – Donut Plains (M) – P4**

**4 min – Aypyidaw Station (R) – P3**

**12 min – Uldersal Station (D) – P2**

It was an annoying four minute wait for the train at the station. Rosalina sat down on a seat along platform 3. She looked across to see many Piantas and Toads on platform 4, waiting for a train to Donut Plains. Behind her was platform 2 with a couple of Piantas and Goombas waiting patiently there and across the rail lines there was platform 1, filled with Toads, Koopas and Piantas. Rosalina looked back along her platform and saw nobody else waiting. Perhaps the fright and danger of the north scared many citizens from ever taking a train to Aypyidaw. The sound of a train came past behind her; the train for Delfino Capital arrived at the Donk City station. It was packed already, with even more citizens boarding on to the train to fill up all the capacity before heading out and turning south. As that one left a train emerged from what looked like where the train to Aypyidaw would be going. The leftward exit of the platform seemed like a dark cave that was the underground mountain route northwards as the train tracks curved that way. The train on platform 4 in front of Rosalina was mostly empty, she only spotted about 4 Koopas amongst all 6 carriages of that train, and most were sitting alone. She could tell at least one of those Koopas is hostile. As the train went out of the station eastwards there was nobody left on that platform, all had got on to the train and none of the northern Koopas got off at this station. Slightly backing up Rosalina's thought on those Koopas being hostile.

The train to Aypyidaw appeared from the east, Rosalina looked around once again to see nobody else was boarding her train. As it stopped, every Toad and Pianta got off and most Koopas and Goombas exited as well, only a few remained inside the train as Rosalina got on the second carriage from the front. She noticed most of the Piantas and Toads who got off stare at her, most likely because she _is_ Rosalina, boarding a train. As her comet observatory was far up on the edge of the atmosphere and no Lumas nearby, she had no choice other than to take the train to Aypyidaw hopefully to see Pauline. She thought maybe she would bump into any familiar faces such as Muji whilst she is there. The train had left the station and the outside light disappeared as it went into the darkness of the cave to Aypyidaw. The speed of the train picked up rapidly through the cave.

_The next station is: Aypyidaw, via Résethal Tunnel C._

_This train terminates at the next stop. For any additional information about journeys onward, please check the assistance found at the next station._

The automated speakers indicated the soon arrival of the train at Aypyidaw Station. Rosalina noticed light that was not bulbs from the train coming from the end of the cave, the train quickly sped into the brightness and she began to see the view of the surrounding areas. She was amazed; the shadows of the steep mountains created a nice dark green of the flat untouched grass that surrounded the area. The trees were tall and full of leaves and sun created a shimmering light onto the rails ahead as they left the shade. It made Rosalina question why these lands are considered dangerous when they look so much like Toad Town. To her right she saw meadows with goats roaming freely, and to the left she saw rocks hatched in to the ground as well as more grass and trees. The scenery that did catch her eye the most was a surprise being train tracks going westwards. She wondered if the tracks led to perhaps another cave tunnel going to Wuhu, or tracks leading to far west Résethal.

The train slowed down as it approached the termination at Aypyidaw. Rosalina was eager to look at the train times to see any particular towns that might be of interest. Aypyidaw Station seemed much larger than Donk City Station, so maybe there would be lots of interesting places to find out about. As she got out of the train she noticed she got off of at Platform 6, another thing she noticed to help fuel her interest. She noticed that Aypyidaw Station was very quiet; only about 10 Koopas were in her view when she looked towards the big open area that was the station. She noticed a sign indicating the exit of the station and the way to the main town of Aypyidaw, most likely where Pauline would be but before she left she turned her head to see the large board showing all the trains.

**7 min – Castelia Station (R) – P4**

**15 min – Northfells via Konhip (R) – P1**

**19 min – North Wuhu Port (W) – P8**

**29 min – Mushroom City (M) – P6**

"Mushroom City?" She yelled loudly in her mind. "Just what I need! I've got to find Pauline." Rosalina dashed out of the station heading towards the main town. She followed a brick road which led her directly round to the other entrance into main Aypyidaw. It felt very familiar, an open interior surrounded by tall buildings and large thick white walls. Koopas and Toads walked freely while council fighters would be training with their weapons. Her main objective now was to head through the main council building to see if Pauline would be there. As she went through the main doors she re-lived a moment she had about an hour ago, bumping into yet another person. This time without any boxes, and it was the recognisable Muhu Delfethal human: Ledro Simpson. She fell on to the floor this time.

"Everything ok there, Rosalina?" Ledro offered his hand to help her up. She grabbed and pretended to pull her weight up but magically levitated herself upright instead. "You came here quickly, what news do you bring?" He said joyfully.

"Thank you, I was told Pauline would be here." She mentioned to Ledro, who looked baffled.

"Of course! She's a little busy though. There's a discussion going on with her, Muji and Archbarn, apparently a member of the council is with Koopak the Second!" He replied happily, Rosalina smiled at his response before realising that she was busy.

"Oh wait I need to see her now." She blurted back at Ledro. "It's very important."

"Well she's through that door." He pointed towards the council meeting room doors. "Her agenda is also important but for a woman of your status, your message must be just as if not even more important."

"Thank you." Rosalina said again, quickly opening the doors revealing conversation of the three people Ledro mentioned before disappearing off behind her. They all turned their heads towards Rosalina and stopped their conversation.

"Rosalina, nice of you to come here." Archbarn walked over to greet.

"It looks like you've come from afar." Muji stated, also walking over to shake hands.

"What's the matter?" Pauline smiled as she asked. Rosalina walked around the centre table towards her, about to inform her on the idea of being part of the races. Rosalina and Pauline do know each other, though they are not best of friends like Peach and Daisy are and she does not know Pauline that much, so she hesitated for a short moment before finally speaking.

"I bring news from the south, about the races. I know all of the teams." The three looked at Rosalina amazed and eager to find out.

"Let's hear it!" Muji bellowed, sitting down on one of the chairs. Archbarn rushed to the chair next to Muji waiting to listen as well.

"That's great! I wonder who the other teams are." Pauline sat down next to Rosalina.

"Well." She said anxiously. "I came across word on the new teams and it is pretty much all set."

"Wait a minute." Archbarn got out of his chair and rushed over to a shelf at the back at the room. He got himself a pencil and a large piece of paper with the original 8 teams already written on it. "Tell me the names." He said.

"Well." Rosalina gulped. "Team 9 is Toadbert and Toadsworth."

"That's pretty interesting." Muji thought as Archbarn scribbled the names down below the rest.

"10, is Hammer Bro and Fire Bro."

"Amazing." Archbarn stated while scribbling.

"11, is Funky Kong and Cranky Kong."

"That is what I call competition." Muji laughed.

"Haha yeah, 12 is Shy Guy and Lakitu."

"All these people are very popular; I would love to see them all in action!" Pauline seemed amazed as Rosalina looked back at her face.

"13, King Boo and Petey."

"Whoa. Scary." Archbarn mentioned.

"14, Dry Bones and Kamek." Rosalina began to sweat awkwardly about to mention her request to Pauline. "The last two teams are yet to be confirmed. But I know who they are." There was a period of silence afterwards; everybody stared at Rosalina as she stood quietly.

"Well, who are they then?" She heard, staring off to the table in front of her. Rosalina looked up and turned her head towards Archbarn and Muji.

"Tom and Enrique will be playing most likely, as the 15th team." Muji and Archbarn's eyes widened, they turned their heads and stared at each other.

"YES, HAHA!" The two jumped in the air with joy, excited at hearing the news. Rosalina and Pauline both looked at them confused. "We knew it would happen!" They both cheered for a bit longer, and they then slowly relaxed back down on to their chairs.

"The last team?" Archbarn asked before grinning at Muji again. Rosalina then turned her head towards Pauline, who noticed and appeared shocked.

"That's why I came here looking for you." Rosalina said sweetly to Pauline. She grabbed her hand tightly. "I want you to race with me Pauline; we can beat them all, together." Pauline opened her mouth in amazement, though Rosalina could tell from the look on her face that she wasn't directly up to it. Pauline, speechless, turned her head towards Muji and Archbarn who also looked amazed.

"No, you join her." Muji pointed his finger towards her in command, stopping Pauline from beginning to speak. "We will have this Jeanette issue covered. You can count on us."

"Who's Jeanette?" Rosalina asked.

"She was a member of this council, but she broke a vow by falling in love with Koopak himself, now she serves him and is helping him get out of this world alive. Koopak's minions still cause havoc in their hometown in Delfino and must be stopped! I knew he would never sign up to those races." Archbarn lectured after finishing up on the list of names. "There." He pointed. "16, Rosalina and Pauline, go and see Peach or Bowser about that now."

"What are we racing in? I'm good at throwing items not so much on the driving part so it's better if you do that." Pauline finally spoke to Rosalina.

"That's not a problem; we need to journey back to Mushroom City because I think it's best if we stay there until a week's time when the first race begins. I have re-modified my Twinkle Star so we can use that, trust me on this one."

"Will I need biker gear?"

"It will be made for you once we sign up. We must hurry now, there's a train to Mushroom City that is going to leave soon. We will take it all the way and meet with Peach and Daisy there." Pauline grinned mischievously, getting up from her chair.

"I guess we are departing now then!" She smiled, giving Archbarn and Muji a big hug before heading towards the door outside.

"Best of luck to you both, and to Tom and Enrique, we'll sure be watching them, just as long as the business up northwest is not as bad as we hope." The two waved to Rosalina and Pauline as they went outside, heading back to Aypyidaw station. All of the Koopas and Toads who were training began to stare back at the two as they rushed gracefully in their dresses to the station.

"Platform 6, it leaves in 2 minutes." Rosalina pointed to the board as they rushed over to get on the closest, but last carriage of the train. They sat opposite eachother next to the window with the sun shining brightly down on the lands.

"Now please tell me what exactly we do when we arrive." Pauline asked, looking very intrigued, resting her head on her arms on the side table in front of her.

"The plan is we sign ourselves up for the races and we seek further instructions. Peach is mostly managing it so she will tell us things such as which race tracks and in which order, the point system. I have my bike stored at a place not far from the castle I can collect that tomorrow morning. We will be seeing many familiar faces soon, so don't get caught by DK." Rosalina joked, making the two of them laugh.

_This is the Platform 6 service to: Mushroom City. Via: Donk City, North Downs, Allam Junction, Uldersal, Munhraw, Seven Farms, Sarasaland, Takhor, and Mushroom City. Change at Seven Farms or Sarasaland for trains to: Noki Bay and Delfino Capital._

The speakers on the train sounded seconds before the train moved to depart.

"I'm so excited to competitively race again, it's been a while." Pauline mentioned while smiling, looking out of the window as the platform disappeared from her view. "It would be so much fun seeing all the best racers around, with your skill we're sure to win."

Rosalina laughed. "We'll see."

**EOC: This chapter was very enjoyable to write and seems quite necessary to be implemented. We will soon see the heartbreaks of those who wished to be part of the races soon. The idea of having these specific racers was to have as much Canon / Main Characters as possible, thus assembling people from all around the world to take part in Bowser's Last Request and a chance to win all his millions of coins.**

**No need for a 2017/2018 Update because we've caught up in time now. Remember, any questions feel free to review or PM. FAQ answers and interesting lore could also be found on my profile so check that out for a read.**

**See you next time!**


	6. Congregation

Fighting in the Streets

Chapter 6 – Congregation

**A/N: I've had lots of messages from people concerning how to format all of the races and display them on some sort of spreadsheet. As a side idea I've been working on something similar to it but I cannot upload it to Fanfiction as it is not exactly a story. Please note that from when the first race begins (January 15), each next race occurs every other day from then, and perhaps in every other chapter. Also the dates in which things occur can be seen as confusing but they are always dated so keep an eye out on those as it would be very confusing to put things chronologically.**

**January 6, 7:00PM**

**Northeast Mushroom City**

Rations.

Donkey Kong was eager to return back to his Jungle, but instead he sat around all day watching the others do what they chose while in the city. From the vehicle he was lounging in, he noticed Kamek approaching to get back into the back of the car. He had a smile on his face and a piece of paper in his hand.

"Apparently all the teams who are signing up were told to meet back at Peach's Castle." Kamek spoke happily. "Dry Bones called me; he's at the castle now putting us in." Donkey Kong stretched and gave a slow clap.

"Did you buy any food?" He asked back, judging Kamek by his empty pockets. "I'm starving."

"Ah." Kamek beckoned. "Tom's still out with Luke buying food." DK slouched around as Kamek entered the back seat, making him have to move around and adjust his large body in his seat. Tom had appeared with Luke behind him, throwing a bag of bananas onto Donkey Kong's lap.

"People are meeting at Peach's Castle for the races." Kamek mentioned to Tom and Luke as they got into the vehicle. As they seated themselves Tom looked towards Luke to see his opinion. He looked back at Tom confused. "What? I'm not a racer, but you are."He said. Tom looked back at Kamek, noticing he had a sheet of paper probably related to it.

"What's that in your hand?" Tom asked, quickly receiving the paper from Kamek's hand. "What is it?"

"A message given to me while I was in town, about meeting Peach at Peach's castle to sign up, what if your friend is there?" Tom read the message, clearly written by Peach.

"He wouldn't sign us up, but I would if I was there."

Luke started the car and drove off into the main areas of Mushroom City.

"Let's go to Peach's castle then." Tom said, pointing directions to the next left onto the main road. From far away on the road they could see the view of the castle, rising high up and within Toad Town, as they drove on they began to slow down as they noticed more and more citizens on the pavement, increasing as they got closer to the castle. A few hundred metres ahead of them on the road the road became blocked by crowds on the street. The four in the car noticed torches being held by some of the Toads and Koopas, and the volume of the crowds got louder as they noticed them chanting like a giant angry mob.

"Stop the car." Tom patted Luke as he slowed down greatly to a stop. "Stay in the car you two." He said referring to Kamek and DK in the back seats. Tom and Luke got out of the car and tried to get a closer look on what was happening. Still carrying his binoculars by a strap, Tom got onto the roof of their car and used them to get a closer look. He saw the entrance of Peach's castle being defended by the Toad Brigade and Police forces, armoured up with shields as there was a split between them and what looked like a riot force with pitch forks and torches composed of Toads, Koopas and Piantas alike. Behind the defending brigade were more armoured Toads, this time with guns pointing upwards to the top floor, as Tom looked up with his binoculars he noticed the glass was shattered at the top floor, perhaps where Bowser had last stormed into the castle on his clown ship.

He noticed Bowser again, walking towards the edge of the room on the top floor. It was at that moment when the crowds panicked as bullets were fired towards Bowser, shattering more glass and causing Bowser to turn his back and run through the room out of Tom's vision. He zoomed in more on the top floor to try and find anybody else inside. He managed to catch the heads of Waluigi and Fire Bro, but nobody else.

"What's going on out there?" DK yelled from inside the vehicle. Luke turned back to face him.

"There's a riot outside the castle, and Bowser's rounded up loads of racers inside I think."

"I can see Waluigi... and Fire Bro..." Tom said slowly as he crept backwards on the roof of the car. "Now I see... Diddy Kong." DK jumped out of his seat.

"Where? Let me see, he leaped up on to the roof of the car, scaring some of the Toads and Koopas surrounding their car. DK borrowed the binoculars and stretched up much taller than Tom to see the view of the top floor of the castle. "There's many there." He stated. "Tens more at least: Wario, Koopa Troopa, Paratroopa, Shy Guy, Dry Bones..."

"Dry Bones!" Kamek got out of the car as well and got on to the roof. "I wonder what's happening."

"There are some humans up there too, four of them, Enrique's one of them but I don't know who the others are." Tom snatched the binoculars off of DK.

"Give me a lift." He said as DK raised Tom by his feet and holding Tom up straight and balanced, giving maximum height gain.

"It's George and Toby, and Jack!" Tom shouted whilst being slowly dropped down back on to the car roof.  
"Let's get in to a building and see better for ourselves!" Tom jumped down from the roof and brushed past angry citizens into a building, Luke soon followed behind him, leaving DK and Kamek on the roof without any binoculars. They both began to notices the crowds where building up in violence and some started attacking each other. The crowds roared with negative sound as Peach approached the window, staring down on them all. She also had binoculars, and began staring down sharply at the crowd, though it didn't seem like she saw DK or Kamek. Enrique approached the edge too just as Tom and Luke got onto a rooftop to the right of the main road, they noticed him use the binoculars and have a look round the city. Luke's eyes followed the path of Enrique's vision with the binoculars whilst Tom looked from the rooftop to see the angry mob, creating bonfires outside the castle and in front of the Brigade.

"Tom, look at this." Luke patted him and pointed across the road to another rooftop. "Who's that?" Tom looked up and noticed a very familiar red-shelled Koopa armed with a rocket launcher, looking exactly like Koopak Asquia.

"It's Koopak." Tom stated, using the binoculars to get an accurate view of his face as he fired the rocket launcher upward, heading straight for the castle roof. Tom looked back at the castle to see Enrique and Peach dash away from the fire, but the explosion only caused frights and massacre at the bottom. The riots worsened. Tom looked down to see DK and Kamek shocked at the blast too. Soon after, Kamek turned his head towards Tom, still gasping at the event.

"Come here!" Tom shouted as the two abandoned the car in the road and charged through the main building door before all the rushing Toads and Koopas went past it, running in fear or fighting back others. Thick dark smoke emerged out of the castle's top floor and Tom noticed the disappearance of everybody he used to be able to see there. As he saw DK and Kamek emerge from the roof door he immediately told them to lock the door, and by doing so none of the screaming Toads and Koopas would ever think to fight them. Tom turned back to look at Koopak and noticed that he had looked back at him. The two had constant eye contact with each other. He shook his head at Koopak, who grinned before carrying his rocket launcher out and through the door leading back in to the building he was in. Kamek had returned from the bottom floor to lock the door, with DK next to him staring down at the crowds as they became violent, leading to fires on every corner. Glass windows were smashed and shops were raided, but the Kamek and DK also sealed the door behind them. Koopak had disappeared from Tom's vision. Luke shivered, unfamiliar with violence in the Mushroom Kingdom. He was scared as he stared down at all the violence.

"Why are there riots?" Kamek asked Tom, assuming he would have an answer.

"I don't know. It seems like Peach's empire is collapsing under its own weight." He replied, staring back at the castle hoping to see any familiar figures.

"You shouldn't have trusted that girl; she's going to let him do bad stuff!" Kamek reinstated. "If you had a weapon you should've killed him like that and think to frame it on someone like that girl he was with." Tom looked down in disappointment and regret. The entire road in front of him was getting smoky and the car they were in was completely flipped over by the mobs. He noticed the Brigade managed to push forward their lines, beginning to clear the roads and douse all the fires. All four of them were still unsure as to why this had happened.

"Wait out here until it all clears up. It should be ceased by the morning." Tom considered to the others.

"You should know how riots work. You did your job up north with those 'riots'." DK sarcastically mentioned."

"Yeah so much for riots." Tom said, leading to a silence period...

_MEANWHILE..._

Many other buildings were locked up and sealed as the riots drove over vigorously toward other parts of the town. One tall building which overlooked the bridge in Mushroom City seemed to be clear of angry mobs, and none had approached the circuit area. However there were still a few empty vehicles that lie on the bridge belonging to rioters. The police station was rather empty as most workers were out defending.

"It's a mess out there, how did it happen?" Koops asked a Toad officer inside the building, the same building that Koops had worked in.

"I'm not sure, at all." The Toad officer replied uselessly. Koops became startled as he noticed the real Toad walked in to the room they were in.

"It's a revolt." Toad stated. "Mainly because the announcement of Bowser's death was released to the public, and all of those rioting are either his followers or peace-makers."

"I wouldn't exactly describe them as peace-makers..." Koops suggested to Toad before grinning.

"Well, they just believe that dealing with Bowser is a normal part of their lives as Bowser is not a real fan of killing people." Toad thought.

"There are the Hostiles as well, they are much worse, and without Bowser the Hostiles may become a huge threat." The officer added. "They do like killing as well.

"Do you mind if two people come through to talk?" Koops asked Toad, who were on good terms with each other. Koops clicked his fingers and softly, Ludwig and Larry Koopa walked in. As Toad and the other officer turned around and noticed they jumped, along with Ludwig and Larry, quickly raising their arms in the air.

"We aren't here to fight you." Larry pointed out. "We wanna talk about the danger we are going to face."

"Koops here is a good friend of ours too, so it's best if we're all on good terms." Ludwig said. Toad and the other officer began to calm down.

"Go out and help." Toad ordered the other officer, making him get up and leave the room to go outside.

"So there are more people that follow Bowser then we think?" Ludwig pointed out as the officer left the room. He walked towards the windows of the room and noticed several Koopas and Toads running down the streets, all with sad or angry faces. Larry turned to the left to see out of the window on the other side. He caught sight of a Toad beating up what seemed like an innocent Koopa civilian. "There are Toads out there beating up Koopas." He claimed.

"There are Koopas beating up Toads as well, trust me." Toad said back to Larry.

"What's going to happen when this is all cleaned up? How would Toadstool respond to this?" Ludwig asked, turning his head back from the window to Toad and Koops.

"She will, I know she will. The Mario brothers are helping out as well, even Daisy too." Toad replied optimistically.

"Well, the idea of Éclair ruling the west really worked out." Larry joked with Ludwig. Toad clenched his fists and turned back to the two. "Whoa don't look at us, we didn't make her resign."

"You need to focus on the races." Ludwig mentioned, making Koops remember something as well.

"Hey Ludwig, who am I racing with?" He asked. Ludwig zoned out for a second, remembering what he had promised Koops.

"Yeah aren't you racing with Kooper?" Ludwig lied to try and convince Koops.

"I don't know where he is; all I know is he could be in those riots right now!" Koops worried. "Or with Koopie, he'd rather race with her though." Larry looked at Ludwig in anxiety.

"Listen." Ludwig walked over to Koops. "I think it's a bit dangerous to be racing against all the other competitors. In the past 24 hours I've been told that people like Dry Bones are going to race, you know... really good racers. I don't think it's worth it if you had a go."

"Yeah there was a broadcast message for those who wanted to join to meet at Peach's Castle, and look at the state of it now." Larry added. Koops looked up, trying to look less miserable.

"I've got a message." Toad checked on the officer's computer. "6 new teams confirmed 2 to go." Koops, Ludwig and Larry walked over towards the computer Toad was working on. He opened up an emailed document from another worker showing the list of the 14 current teams. Toad scrolled down to the list and zoomed in on it, making sure the others were able to read it.

"Toadbert and Toadsworth." Ludwig pointed out. "Those two won't stand a chance."

"Easier for King Dad and Junior to win." Larry laughed. The others muttered the names of the other racers as they read down the whole list.

"No Rosalina." Koops mentioned. "That's a surprise."

"Probably going to sign up soon, they'll reserve her a spot. Some say she's the best racer ever." Ludwig suggested.

"That's bad." Larry looked back at Ludwig. "We want Bowser to win remember?"

"Well she's perfectly fit to apply. She just needs another person to partner with her." Toad taunted the other two whilst looking at the screen with his fingers crossed. "I've got to decide my race with Toadette; we've already agreed to use a modified Rally Romper." The others looked at him, interested.

"What do you mean... decide your race?" Larry asked mischievously.

"As in I was told by Peach that every racer has to decide 1 race that they want to have included, since there are 32 races, 32 racers, one person will choose each race."

"What race are you thinking of?" Koops asked. "Has Toadette decided hers?"

"We're thinking of races such as my factory, Mushroom Gorge, Shroom Ridge, Mushroom Bridge etcetera, but we haven't confirmed anything between us. Toadsworth and Toadbert might choose some races similar to ours as well. Better not pick anything stupid for us; we suck at the hard tracks." Larry and Ludwig looked at each other evilly hearing the fact that the Toad is not a great racer.

"Now get out." Toad ordered randomly. "We got to deal with outside and close this place for the night. Can't have you two scoundrels conspiring anything stupid." Toad led the two Koopas downstairs and out of the building. "Run now, before the riots catch you!" Toad attempted to shove the two out of the door, quickly closing the door behind him before they could say anything back. Koops followed them downstairs and watched as they rushed across the road underneath the bridge out of their sight.

"What are we going to do now?" Koops asked Toad as he proceeded on upstairs back through the rooms of the police station.

"We get some sleep." He replied. "We'll deal with all of these riots, Koopak's son, and those two in the morning." Toad locked up and left the building out of the secret entranceway. Koops quickly followed behind him.

"But what about the princess?" Koops asked annoyingly, unaware that Toad was not lying and actually wanted to go to sleep. He turned round at Koops.

"Good, night, Koops." He yelled monotonously before heading off in his own direction back to Toad Town where his house was. Now Koops was awkwardly standing in the middle of an empty road with no nearby rioters...

**January 7 – 12:00PM**

**Peach's Castle Cells, cleaned up**

Peach and Daisy met up with Mario and Luigi after the massacre of last night, waiting outside the guarded cells to release the captives inside. As Peach opened the hatch into the dark room, she saw the 5 all doing their own thing quietly inside the cells. Toads guarding stood aside as Peach ordered their doors to be open. Waluigi growled at the presence of the people outside as the door opened. Everybody inside turned their heads to see Peach and Daisy, with Mario and Luigi behind them.

"You're free to go. But I have a message for you all. You must show up to the Mushroom Square in Toad Town in the early morning on the 10th of the month. Please bring your kart or bike with you and you must each and I mean each, decide one race you would like to submit for the races. I will give a lecture to everybody on the day but it is compulsory to bring your karts." She announced to the captives.

"Where's that?" Lakitu asked informally. The Toad guards sighed as they heard what he had asked.

"It is the big square in the centre of Toad Town, which lies to the left as you leave my castle." Peach answered, then turning her head over towards Dry Bones. "Dry Bones, you will need to tell Kamek about your sign-up to these events. You both must have an agreement amongst yourselves for the kart or bike you are choosing. Please note everybody that you must seek out at mechanic shops for two-man modification for your karts, and if there is a glider or not as well. These events will need gliders and in the rare cases depending on the races people choose: underwater mechanics." The Toad guards stood out of the way of the entrance as the five captives were escorted out. Mario and Luigi pulled frowns as they saw Wario and Waluigi walk out of the cell, giving bad looks back clearly showing their hate for each other.

"We'll beat you all." Wario yelled confidently to everybody before turning to walk out of the cells room.

"In your dreams!" Mario laughed as the guards took them out of the room. Aside Wario and Waluigi making smirks and growling noises, the other three left rather quietly and patiently which left a big surprise on Peach and Daisy's face. Peach thought that workers of Bowser would despise the princesses, but maybe they are more depressed than angered due to their lack of work and freedom being outcasts of the Mushroom Kingdom. She was unsure where either of the three would live now as Bowser's Castle was almost empty; when she was there she noticed how empty the place seemed. All she had seen there were only Bowser's kids, which are probably seeking out for help from anybody they can find, willing to give them shelter and undercover aid before any Toad Brigade member of Hostile ever thinks to assassinate them. Lakitu gave a long stare at Peach however, without any specific expression. Her thoughts on any reason as to why he gave such a look were unclear and unsure as to why. As she phased out in her mind she got a pat on the back by Mario, speaking words she was not listening to. She hesitated and looked back at him.

"What?" She asked informally.

"Are you going to greet our friends over there?" Peach turned her head and realised that Rosalina and Pauline had arrived from afar to meet. Oddly she didn't see them appear after she was too focused in watching Lakitu as he left. She stared at Rosalina, who gave a small gesture of a wave back to her. The two were led by few Toads towards the four in the corridor.

"Hey Peach! We want to sign up for the tournament." Pauline greeted happily.

"Sounds great! Did you hear the message about meeting on the 10th?" Daisy asked kindly after shaking hands with Pauline.

"No, what is it? I know that the teams have to be decided for then." She replied.

"Meet at Mushroom Square in Toad Town, and bring your selected vehicle and race." Peach, who became fully focused, interrupted with a very big smile on her face, staring right in to Rosalina and Pauline's eyes.

"I'm going to need biker gear." Pauline stated, with Rosalina nodding in agreement shortly after.

"Right!" Peach said delightfully. "See these Toads here about it, they will escort you to the place where you can get it sorted, I'm guessing you'll like a dark-red inlay with your outfit." She giggled with Pauline as the Toads waiting gathered up to the two tall ladies.

"We have our bike." Rosalina mentioned. "What do you mean by race?"

"Every racer chooses one race, the order they will be in will be decided on the 10th, though we will reveal only the first 8." The two girls nodded in agreement to Peach. "Due to the incident at Wuhu, neither loops are selectable. I will tell the others that on the day. You don't have to fully finalise your choice until the day. Toads make sure the message goes to everyone. Yoshi and Birdo should get the message now."

"What about Rainbow Roads?" Peach froze for a short period after hearing the last words.

"L-let's save that query for the 10th, goodbye for now!" She stuttered, soon changing to another delightful mood. Rosalina looked confused, but shortly turned around to be escorted out of the castle by the Toads. Peach turned to see Mario and Luigi still waiting patiently and rather ghostly, making no attempt to talk to Rosalina especially. As soon as they disappeared from hearing range, Peach's mood turned for the worst.

"We just let one of the best racers ever race!" She yelled angrily.

"At least she can beat Bowser, he is considered the best." Mario stated, trying to cheer her up.

" _I'm_ the best! Rosalina wouldn't go out of her way to win to stop Bowser though. Plus I want to prove to Rosalina that I'm better than her."

Daisy immediately butted in.

"Listen here Peach, if you wanted to prove that you're better than Rosalina than you play against her in single racer format. This is a double-dash tournament, what Bowser wished for but you wanted to take control of it as much as you wanted. Besides, your partner is me. Her partner is Pauline. Like, has she even raced before? She has no biker gear!"

"Well, we're probably going to beat you two anyway so..." Luigi added randomly.

"Shut up!" Peach yelled to Luigi.

"Calm-a down everybody!" Mario tried to make a just conclusion. "What matters at the moment is that Bowser needs to lose. We should work together.

"But Mario." Luigi conflicted. "If we win we get all his money. Millions of gold coins, no more jumping up on the blocks any more on our way to save the princess." Mario's pupils turned in to gold coins along with a big smile appearing on his face.

"With that money, I wouldn't bother rescuing you. Think of all the meals we can eat Luigi." Mario taunted Peach, turning her face red. "Think of all the ravioli, and the spaghetti meatballs and spicy hot Italian-imported pizza."

"What's that got anything to do with all those gold coins Mario, I don't understand." Luigi uttered in confusion.

"That's because you're a dog, Luigi." Mario slapped Luigi in a silly way, fully angering Peach.

"Stop! Both of you!" Peach roared in to their faces.

"I'm not falling for that trick again Mario." Luigi whispered out of Peach's attention.

"Daisy and I will show you who the real boss of this land is. Not like I'm that anyway."

"Ya-ha."

"I'm going to use Bowser's coins fairly. Though Daisy can spend her share in whatever way she wants."

"Yep!"

"This is going to be the biggest, best, most competitive tournament yet." The four walked in to the main assembly hall of Peach's Castle, where they saw Toadbert and Toadsworth up near the throne having their own conversation. Both stared at them as they approached, smiling overtly.

"Hello everybody! We were just talking about the... races..." Toadbert greeted anxiously. Peach didn't seem very interested based on her facial expression.

"What are you two doing in my castle? You two didn't sign up with me anyway." She said rather aggressively, startling Daisy and Mario. Both the two Toads shrieked and ran out in fear, feeling they had upset their ruler. The others didn't say a word until they left, all looking confused.

"Why did you send them out like that?" Mario asked quietly, trying his best not to annoy Peach.

"Those two are absolute garbage at racing, Bowser let them in and they won't leave. No competition." She raged, moving up to her throne and sitting down in a humph.

"Who cares?" Daisy yelled. "We got this, stop worrying!" Peach sighed and slouched on her throne seat, seeming very bored.

"I can't wait for these races already."

"Anything you can do about it though?" Luigi asked. Before Peach could reply with anything the four heads turned towards the entrance again, to see the doors opening, the shadow of a human figure walked across the room surrounded by the light of the outside. All on his own, he kept walking uniformly straight towards the four standing by the throne. The shadow disappeared revealing the figure of Tom. They all gasped at his demeaning presence, though he had quite a smile on his face.

"It seems like I've missed a lot." He spoke loudly across the hall to the four, who stood straight and looked down on him like they were a royal family. Peach sat on her throne and did not get up nor move in closer to show attention. Daisy remained by her left and Mario and Luigi to her right. "However it seems like the races are still underway in operation. I've noticed Rosalina and Pauline are in town, are they a team?" He said again, trying to break a potential awkward silence in the hall. Tom began to feel one coming from the sound of the echo of his speech.

"I have confirmed them." Peach finally spoke out, trying to minimise her words.

_15\. Rosalina and Pauline_

"We're still looking for one more." The silence began. Tom stood there thinking of what to say next whilst the four atop the throne looked down on Tom by the steps.

"Well..." He said rather slowly. "If you want these races to be the best ever, find the best racers you can possibly think of." Peach moved her body closer to look down on Tom, directly staring at him.

"I wasn't talking about myself." He joked. "Though I am quite a good driver I guess."

"Come closer." Peach demanded with a very deep voice, sounding very strict. Tom walked up more steps to become about two metres away from the others. "I want you to race."

"This is the part where we leave now." Luigi whispered to Mario.

"Peach, me and Luigi are going to"-

"Good. Go." She ordered quickly without letting them finish, the two ran out through the nearest door and out of hearing range. Peach gestured Tom to approach even closer. "Sit down in front of me." She ordered.

Tom refused. "I'm afraid I'm not doing that for you." Daisy gasped, but Peach smiled.

"Even better." She said as deeply as before. "You can do as well as you want to in this tournament, your presence is what we need." Peach got up from her throne seat and stood directly in front of Tom; Daisy also moved closer to listen in and sometimes speak.

"Those two are whipped if you know what I mean." She stated quietly, making Tom grin a bit looking over to the hallway where the two disappeared to and beyond. "They are good, don't get me wrong. However, the audience is not like you'd think it to be. They want the popular people to race; they don't actually care as much about them. The public want to see me and Daisy race, they want to see... Funky Kong race because they're not only good but they're entertaining to watch."

"Also, there's nothing special about racers such as Yoshi and Birdo, they aren't good either but they are just fillers." Daisy added. "The races need to be confirmed as soon as possible so we can start selling tickets. Trust me they will go faster than you can say Henry Ford."

"So you want me and Enrique to race, fill your last position." Tom suggested.

"Exactly, then maybe we can get everything confirmed." Peach whispered.

"We have it all planned out." Daisy added again.

"Sign us up then. We will sort things out for the 10th." Tom confirmed.

_16\. Tom and Enrique_

"A special day awaits us..."

Part Three: The Road to Double-Dash

**January 10, 2015 (1) – Morning**

**Mushroom Square, Toad Town**

A few days passed, a few rather quiet days to be precise. All 32 racers had grouped up eventually, meeting up in a massively formed circle in Toad Town. The whole place was empty of citizens. It was all barred off and shut down outside the castle and on the few streets of Toad Town to assemble the games together. Peach and Daisy stood in the centre, ready to announce a speech for some to listen to and some to sleep to.

"People from across the lands, thank you all for attending today in order to confirm how the races are going to be for the upcoming days. If you would kindly sit around and listen in on all the rules that will apply for the races." Everybody stood down and sat themselves comfortably ready to listen. Each and every one that was there was sitting next to their partner. Directly to the right of Peach and Daisy and proceeding clockwise, sat Mario and Luigi, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, Funky Kong and Cranky Kong, Rosalina and Pauline, Tom and Enrique, Shy Guy and Lakitu, Wario and Waluigi, Bowser and Bowser Jr, Dry Bones and Kamek, King Boo and Petey, Hammer Bro and Fire Bro, Toadbert and Toadsworth, Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa, Yoshi and Birdo, and Toad and Toadette to their left, all with their kart or bike next to them.

"First of all, the races will be set to 150cc, with 5 laps each, regardless to the length of the course. We will have inspections on your vehicle's setting before each race happens so nobody will be cheating by speed-hacking throughout the races. Anybody caught in changing mid race will be disqualified and will receive 0 points for that race AND the race after that as well.

Secondly, the item setting will be in Frantic Mode. (Causing a few gasps) Also we will have the sixth tournament item roster; coins will be included on the tracks however. This means we will have the flying blue shells and the more slowing of specific items. All vehicles are updated for 8th series I presume.

Thirdly, the points system per race will go as follows: 20, 17, 15, 13, 12 and so forth until 1. Even if you come last you can still get points.

Bikes are allowed I see you have had all of your vehicles adjusted for two people to be on and included with a glider.

The following races are not selectable; please change these before confirming your option: Wuhu Mountain Loop, Wuhu Island Loop, Duplicate Bowser's Castles, Duplicate Rainbow Roads, races with the 'word' circuit in them, one lap races, and any first tournament race, Figure-8 Circuit, and Melody Motorway / Music Park." Everybody seemed obedient for the time being.

"The first race is my own selected Mushroom City, and the last race will be Bowser's selected: Bowser's Castle. Each other race will be selected at random to be drawn until all have run out. Any questions?" The area was quiet, with many people just awkwardly staring at each other. Rosalina, Kamek and Bowser Jr had their hands up.

"Kamek?" She allowed.

"Yes, is Electrodrome still possible due to what happened there couple weeks back?"

"Yes." Peach answered. "It's all cleared up in the likelihood of it being picked. Rosalina?"

"Why can't Rainbow Road be last?"

"Yeah." Bowser Jr added. "Have Bowser's Castle penultimately." Peach looked around to see many people nodding in agreement.

"Fair enough, we can have that. This means 29 races will be randomly selected. I'm guessing that was your question too." Bowser Jr nodded. "Good, now could you all collect a sheet of paper from the centre and a pen to write your name down and your chosen race. Please place it in to this ballot pile and we will randomly select the first 7, excluding Mushroom City." Everybody approached the centre, some immediately taking a pen and paper while others waited until the rest cleared away. They were all rather quiet and gentle with one another as they collected paper. On the sheets, there was a dotted line indicating to write 'Your Name' and another for 'Race Chosen'.

_SEVERAL MINUTES LATER..._

Mario and Luigi approached the ballot first, representing themselves with their races and their chosen vehicle: _B Dasher Mk 2._

They placed their race choices into the ballot.

Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong approached, behind where they sat was their chosen vehicle: The Offroader, modified for 8th tournament play, including a built-in glider and underwater driving capability.

They placed their choices in.

Funky Kong and Cranky Kong placed their papers in to the ballot, behind them was their bike that they were going to use for the races: Torpedo, modified to be larger and with a back glider.

Rosalina and Pauline went up next, placing their races in.

"One of these is a Rainbow Road." Rosalina turned around, alerting all the other racers. They both turned and walked back to sit next to their bike: Twinkle Star. Modified. Peach took out Rosalina's ballot for Rainbow Road, indicating her that it would be selected as the final race.

Tom and Enrique approached next but rather slowly, both placing their papers in to the ballot. Enrique noticed one of papers placed in the ballot not folded in well, letting him read the race shown on the paper but not the person who chose it.

"That's a hard race." Enrique said, not directly telling anybody whose race or what race he was referring to. The two then both walked back to their kart: A Standard Kart M, resembling a 6th tournament type (Wii) but larger and with a glider included.

Shy Guy and Lakitu walked up, staring at Tom and Enrique's standard kart. Lakitu remembered that in his past two tournaments that nobody used standard karts in the proper races. Shy Guy noticed too, giving a smirk at the two as they placed their papers in. The two silently walked back to their chosen bike: Bubble Bike.

Wario and Waluigi approached next, laughing with each other causing all the attention to be diverted to them. As they reached the ballot, they both gave an evil laugh as they placed their papers in, laughing more as they walked back to their bike: Wario Bike.

"What's with those two?" Kamek asked Dry Bones, who looked around and saw a few other people asking the same thing to their partner.

"I have no idea, but that's them for you." He replied.

They all watched as Bowser walked up to the ballot with Bowser Jr. Everybody stared at the paper that was dropped in to the ballot by Junior, watching him laugh evilly as the two walked back to their vehicle: The Flame Flyer, and larger than usual.

Dry Bones and Kamek were called up next, both slipping their papers in to the ballot quickly before returning back to their bike: Magikruiser. Everybody was now staring at the rest of the people as they put their submissions in.

King Boo and Petey placed theirs in next and returned back to their Piranha Prowler.

Hammer Bro and Fire Bro placed theirs after and returned to their Wild Wing.

Toadbert and Toadsworth, rather unknown to the majority of the crowd arrived next, placing theirs in and returning to their Concerto.

Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa arrived up to place theirs in, returning straight back to their Bullet Bike.

Yoshi and Birdo approached to the middle to place their submissions in, afterwards they returned back to their modified bike: The Rapide.

Toad and Toadette arrived penultimately to place theirs in, they both walked back to their kart after nodding respectfully to Peach. The two Toads were going to race in a Rally Romper.

Daisy approached last, ready to place hers in. As she did, she could see everybody else staring patiently at her as she dropped the final paper into the ballot box, completing the set of 32 races for the future. Daisy walked back to sit next to Peach, where they had their modified and inlaid Mach Bike still looking unscathed and fresh for the races. Peach then got up to take the full ballot box from the middle and shuffle around all of the pieces of paper inside.

"We all know that Mushroom City is going to be the first race, we are now going to decide the other races to complete the first quarter." She closed her eyes and shuffled around the ballot box. Everybody was focused on the ballot box, watching all the papers moving around ready to be picked.

She sifted through and picked out the first bit of paper with her fresh white gloves, raising it up in the air and opening it up revealing the name and the race chosen.

"2, Yoshi: Yoshi Valley."

"What?" Tom called out. "I thought that was a maze, not a race!" He looked at Yoshi in spite, who only began to giggle a bit.

"All of the races are going to be hard." Enrique whispered to Tom, focused on the ballot box. Nobody else seemed to create any commotion; they all seemed to be very observant and eager to know which races will be selected. Peach grabbed a pen and noted down the number 2 on the same paper as Yoshi's before selecting another paper from the box. After shuffling and picking out, she raised another unfolded sheet of paper into the air.

"3, Toadette, Mushroom Bridge." Peach announced, writing the number 3 on to that one.

"That race is pretty easy." Tom whispered to Enrique.

"Everyone will find it easy, that's why we will do worse." He said back quietly before turning back to Peach, who shuffled the box once again. Tom looked around to see everybody focusing their eyes on the ballot box, impossible to interact with. They then looked towards Peach as she revealed the fourth race.

"4, Toadsworth, Maple Treeway."

"That's a nice one." Tom whispered again to Enrique. "We could pull that one off with item luck or something."

"Yeah, I think the races people chose are the fun ones, which look difficult but if you do really well in them all the crowds will think you're really good." Enrique replied.

"Will you be quiet?" Daisy yelled from across the circle, some contenders turned their heads towards the two, who looked awkwardly around the place. Tom nodded back to Daisy and closed his mouth. She pointed back at Enrique and then pinched her fingers across her mouth. Enrique then decided to point back to her, sliding his finger across his throat, showing a threat. She growled quietly and looked back to Peach, who was too busy selecting the fifth race.

"5, Paratroopa, Koopa Cape."

There was silence this time after the announcement. Enrique could notice after a short while that Paratroopa was whispering to Koopa Troopa.

"I wrote down a different race." Was all he could hear from Koopa Troopa as he whispered back to Paratroopa, they then turned their heads back to Peach.

"6, Toad, Toad's Factory."

Another silence period. Peach had written 5 on Paratroopa's paper and began to write a 6 on Toad's, indicating the race order. Tom had thought that all the races picked so far all seemed relatively bright and nice, he was surprised to see nothing scary or dangerous. Nobody he knew well had a race selected already.

"7, Luigi, Luigi's Mansion."

Lakitu sighed, diverting a few's attention, they could all gather that he was rather feeble at that race. After all it did seem like the gloomiest race so far, but not very challenging. Peach wrote a 7 on Luigi's paper and began to select the last race for the first eight chosen on that day.

"Finally, 8, Shy Guy, Shy Guy Falls." She wrote down the number on to Shy Guy's paper and placed all of the selected papers back in to the ballot box open up and unfolded, then she folded up the box and sealed it up, placing it aside next to her bike. "You can now discuss." Peach looked back at Enrique and Tom with a smile.

"They all look easy." Tom said loudly, making everyone look at him and listen in.

Funky Kong laughed at the two sitting across the circle. "That means the hard races will be selected later."

"We haven't seen many races yet." Kamek mentioned.

"That includes yours." Shy Guy said directed to Tom and Enrique.

"What race did you choose?" Enrique asked Tom, who whispered back to him. "Why that race?" He asked again. Tom shrugged his shoulders.

"Sounds cool." He replied, making more people laugh. Rosalina facepalmed.

"These two are fools, why are they racing?" King Boo asked, looking at Peach. "I mean, surely there are other people, who else would be able to compete and do better?"

"You should've got Koopak Asquia to race." Kamek asked. "That would make it even more fun."

"Koops McShell also wanted to race; Ludwig told me that a few days back. He must be really disappointed."

"We have our contenders, accept it and move on, there's no leaving now." Peach spoke out to everyone in the circle.

"Just wait till we get to the harder races, everybody here is going to be rivals." Wario said.

"Half the people here are rivals of everyone else." Lakitu stated immediately after.

"You don't see anybody having arguments with each other though, do you?" Wario said back.

"It's because we are all here formally to discuss race selection." Toadsworth proclaimed.

"No." Enrique butted in. "You're all afraid." Waluigi shrieked. "You don't want to fight each other because you're all scared; supporters of people here will want to kill you guys, especially those well known." People gasped, knowing the harsh truth. "No wonder this occasion is private, if Toads and Koopa citizens saw everyone here breaking bread, we'll have more riots across the entire lands. They're living more freely. Just wait till what the Hostiles have on offer." Many of those in the circle got scared, Mario and Luigi looked rather confused but people such as Kamek, Paratroopa and Dry Bones got scared.

"That's a wrap then." Daisy said to all those sitting around, interrupting Enrique.

"Indeed." Peach agreed while the rest were still silent. "All your karts and bikes seem rather capable of racing, ranging from only the 6th series, now what can I say about that?"

"Well the 6th tournament was the best one." King Boo stated. "Shame not everybody here raced in it. This one should become the best."

"Well judging by that kart you two have over there..." Funky Kong pointed to Tom and Enrique. "It's better if not everybody raced!" He joked, causing many people around to laugh, mostly Koopas. Tom and Enrique also laughed sarcastically, though at the same time they tried to hide the honest truth about their skill.

"Wait and see." Enrique replied out of spite. "If we're so bad, anybody who does worse than us should feel ashamed." The laughing stock of racers became silenced and baffled at that remark. Few scratched their heads, and others looked away awkwardly, though Waluigi focused his eyes on Enrique as he giggled at his own remark.

"Come Enrique, we talk like men." He got up and pointed away, the two disappeared from the very awkward circle of quiet racers.

"Time to go back to the castle." Bowser said to Junior, those two quickly escaped the scene as well. Most others decided to sit around and talk amongst themselves while everybody was here. The next time they would all be with one another will be in a proper racing environment, and without all the friendly attitudes...

**EOC: We're slowly getting the ball rolling towards the races, however I don't want to rush the bits beforehand so I may end up editing or adding in more stuff because there are so much bulky things to put in the chapters.**

**The 16 team's have been selected and confirmed, the races should start soon now. Take in to account this fanfic is not all about Bowser's last request and the double dash tournament but all the events that occur at the same time. If you have anything to wonder or query about send me a PM or check my profile page for lore guidance.**

**See you next time!**


	7. Isle Port

Fighting in the Streets

Chapter 7 – Isle Port

**A/N: As a quick sort of reminder, now you should know all of the contenders and their karts. It was rather hard to list them in the previous chapter so now I will address them on a list here in order.**

**Mario and Luigi – B Dasher Mk 2**

**Bowser and Bowser Jr – Flame Flyer**

**Wario and Waluigi – Wario Bike**

**Peach and Daisy – Mach Bike**

**Yoshi and Birdo – Rapide**

**Toad and Toadette – Rally Romper**

**DK and Diddy Kong – Offroader**

**Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa – Bullet Bike**

**Toadbert and Toadsworth – Concerto**

**Hammer Bro and Fire Bro – Wild Wing**

**Cranky Kong and Funky Kong – Torpedo**

**Shy Guy and Lakitu – Bubble Bike**

**King Boo and Petey – Piranha Prowler**

**Dry Bones and Kamek – Magikruiser**

**Rosalina and Pauline – Twinkle Star**

**Tom and Enrique – Standard Kart M**

**January 10, 2015 – 3:30PM**

**Toad Town Outskirts**

_WALKING OUT OF TOAD TOWN..._

Two slim humans strolled into the woods and out of sight from the rest. Waluigi being the slightly taller one, looked back to see nobody else staring at them.

"What's your purpose then?" Enrique asked Waluigi, looking rather annoyed whilst looking up to his shaped face.

"Have you not seen how the whole world has changed over the past few years? It frightens me." He replied anxiously. "Around all the people I am still my usual self, but when I think about it alone... all these races... the money... the rivalries... I get scared." He carried on lecturing as they walked up a forest hill, definitely out of sight from the rest and near the edge of Toad Town, also part of the edge of Mushroom City.

"Death tolls are rising in some places." He added finally. Enrique stopped and turned to Waluigi before responding. Just as he was about to speak, he was interrupted for one more sentence. "What was it like when you were... north?"

"They didn't like Peach, or Bowser. But if you show up with a neutral reputation, they will not want to kill you." He said quickly, looking in to the woods and then back to Waluigi. "Yes, tolls are rising. The battles between Peach and Bowser actually were good times, because very few people were actually dying. Having no villain in the lands will create more potential enemies, plus there's the ever-growing force of the Hostiles in the north which is going to become a problem. Those guys actually kill Koopas of Bowser's armies and Toads of Peach's Government. Famous people are targets." Waluigi's face turned red from upset, it began to sweat as Enrique carried on.

"Peach doesn't understand the risk of attacks on the people when they watch the games. The worst thing about the Hostiles, they could be any one of the Koopas or Goombas that you see around you, they're everywhere but covering up their identity and we don't know if they are Hostile."

"Oh no!" He screamed, wailing loudly in the forest, unheard by anybody however. To the south, Enrique noticed the end of the tree line, separating the forest from a meadow along the shore overlooking an island connected by a small bridge. The two began to walk in the meadow, with the sun coming back in to their eyes. The meadow was thin, but it stretched along the grassy coastline towards the horizon on each side.

"Follow me." Enrique said as he dashed on to the plains, noticing Sirenna and Ricco to the east, and turning around to see Peach Beach to the west. This could only mean that the island in front of them joined by the bridge was Isle Port: a large cliff island, mostly flat with a few trees, with a tiny town in the centre, also called Isle Port. The road coming from it led straight back to Mushroom City or Sirenna Beach but it was completely empty of any vehicles.

"Tell me Waluigi, is Isle Delfino shaped like a dolphin?" Enrique asked again, Waluigi looked confused at the question.

"No, why?"

Enrique looked westwards along the coastline, the view was so clear he could catch a glimpse of Isle Delfino, smaller than he thought it would be. "It's just a detail that those on Earth had altered; many beaches that the people of Earth thought were all part of Isle Delfino, were just other parts of the largest island's coastline."

"I heard about this, some sort of myth everyone here thinks it was." Enrique looked back at Waluigi as they crossed the meadow.

"This place is quite different to what people on Earth view it as, they thought all places such as Sirenna Beach, Ricco Harbour, Gelato Beach, were all part of Isle Delfino." He carried on. The two eventually reached the clear bridge to Isle Port.

"Why are we going here?" Waluigi asked.

"I'm going to look for some valuables, for the future. What did you want me to do when we were at Toad Town?"

"To talk to you about the fear of the north..." Enrique stopped for a second.

"Well we can do that while I search the twins' house, maybe they're at home." He replied, proceeding across the bridge. Waluigi had no other considerable choice but to follow along.

"About that Delfino thing..." Waluigi reminded. "The only named beaches there are Noki Bay and Delfino Beach, which is on the side facing the endless southern sea." The two had already seen the view of the endless southern sea, though Isle Port was obstructing their proper view. The island town was known to be the southernmost point in all of the lands, and home to about six different families who were neutral to most of Peach's government forces.

"I need a map." Enrique strolled on the sidewalk of the only main road of Isle Port, the entire place looked empty of people, but not abandoned. Cars were parked neatly, houses were clean and the concrete side roads were polished recently. At the end of the main road the concrete converged into a dirt path, leading through a flat meadow going on for a few miles and eventually stopping at a building halfway across the island. Now that all of the houses were past them, the two could see the endless sea once again.

"Which house belongs to the twins?" Waluigi asked Enrique as they stared south, he looked at Enrique as he saw him stretch his arm out to point to the building in the centre of the island. Their shadows lie directly in front of the two, and their heads began to feel hot. Long ago Enrique noticed a weather factor about the lands, the further south you go, the hotter it gets. He thought it could be at least 40 degrees (C) right now. Waluigi gave a big sigh showing his true laziness.

"More walking..." He moaned.

"If you want answers to the future, then follow me." Enrique carried on forward towards the twins' house. Waluigi looked amazed at its position, it felt like a charming tree surrounded by the vibrantly coloured flowers and grass that flooded the stump island. "We can both get our answers from them."

"I've never heard of this place. There's so much about the land that not even I know about." Waluigi stated as they walked. "I have only realised now that life's not all about being an antagonist's minion when there's so many bigger things happening in the world."

"You're woke, Waluigi."

"Awake?"

"No, you're finally seeing the bigger picture."

The two approached the large house, seeming very chromic and modern, with big glass windows and marble walls. There was a roofless car parked outside next to the main entrance to the house. The two noticed the doors were left ajar.

"Time to look inside." Enrique smiled at Waluigi as they walked up the footsteps to the interior of the house. "Hello?" He yelled as they closed the door behind them. "Anybody home?" There was silence, neither one of the twins were present in the large house. It felt like they haven't been here for a very long time. The two looked around and saw every bit of the house looking clean and untouched.

"They're not here." Waluigi pointed out. "What should we do?" He looked at Enrique, who was looking around more at the house.

"Search downstairs, I'm going upstairs to look for something I need, and then we can find you your information." Enrique rushed to the stairs while Waluigi stared at the main room. It was quite an open marble floored room with a chromic table in the middle, very unfamiliar to any sort of house in the lands, the sofas surrounding the table looked dark and angular but rather comfortable as Waluigi walked over and felt them. On the other side of the room was a small kitchen area, with lighter looking pillars on both sides. The room had almost no decorations or any pictures hanging from the wall. To the left of the table was a massive glass window and a marble inlay in the centre with draws placed on the bottom. Waluigi searched them and found lots of papers inside, most of them contained images and drawings of old Powerhouse work, well beyond complexion of Waluigi's comprehensive ability. In other draws he found similar things, mostly about ancient uses of The Spire and The Powerhouse, he even found an old schoolbook inside one of the draws belonging to Tobias.

Nothing of any use to Waluigi.

"Come up here!" Enrique shouted from upstairs. Waluigi answered the call and hurried up the neon marble staircase. The entire house was very open as he noticed the design of upstairs; it was one large looking bedroom with two beds on one side, a set of more draws ahead of them and a huge shelf of books and scrolls on the other side.

"These can't all be theirs." Waluigi thought. "They must have stolen everything."

"Not everything." Enrique replied, studying a map of the southern kingdoms, he placed the A1 looking map on to one of the beds and laid it flat, examining the southern coastline. "They have borrowed things from the council in the north, but I've seen a lot of blueprints that they made for themselves on how to work the Powerhouse.

"An Albanian to English dictionary? What's that?" Waluigi handed over a book to Enrique, confused.

"That's another way of saying, Old Koopish to New Koopish translator, well... the common tongue." He replied, putting the dictionary aside. Enrique looked at the map more looking closely at the names of all the beaches on the southern coast.

"Sirenna Beach, then Ricco Harbour, Isle Port, Peach Beach, Frinméy Beach that's new, Gelato Beach..." He moved his finger along the map. "All part of the southern coastline but not in Isle Delfino." Enrique walked over to the draws to collect another map, of Isle Delfino. It looked similar to what he thought it would be but without most of the beaches and there was no Pinna Park. Waluigi looked over the maps Enrique had on the table, with no idea why he had them placed in that way and for what reason. But like he does with some of the things Wario does, he just went with it and waited till he was finished.

"I've got studying to do." Enrique said to him as he put the maps back.

"What about the stuff I need?" Waluigi reminded him. Enrique searched the shelves to take some old books, mostly written by the council or the twins. He then walked back to the draws and collected another map of the north. The map was covered in different colours with a key. The land of Résethal was painted in red, grey and yellow; the red area covered any Hostile ground, covering the entirety of the north of Résethal excluding the Spire, and the western coastline. The yellow area was a small portion outside Aypyidaw, controlled by the council or Peach's forces. The grey area was neutral, covering any other area along the southeast of Résethal, outside the north side of Bowser's Castle. Enrique lectured to Waluigi about the control of the north, the map read the land control updated to late 2014.

"There are some areas that we might visit in the event that they are picked for the races." He pointed towards Koopa Cape on the eastern coastline, below the spire, part of the grey area. He then pointed to Wild Woods, also in the grey. Wario Colosseum was also in Résethal, in the red. Waluigi scratched his head, thinking Wario would have selected there to race.

"It seems..." Enrique went back to sift through the books on the shelves. "There's not much these guys have to help find you safety in the future. But hey, if you're at risk of being attacked by Hostiles, then everybody in the races will be. I think they're fond of the works of terrorism."

"What will it be like?" Waluigi asked, inspecting more books on the shelves.

"Well, hopefully during the races there will be lots of security for the people watching. The races are probably going to be broadcasted by some of the Lakitus; it will be the most viewed tournament yet." He lectured, putting the maps away, searching along the shelves for other important scrolls or maps. "The worst will happen at the end of the races, when either Bowser dies or he becomes a ruler again. If Bowser wins the tournament I think all of his old followers will join him again and then there will be a great war against him and Peach's forces again... which is good on you I guess." Waluigi laughed. "Yeah ha-ha."

"But no teaming in the tournament." Enrique reminded. "The winner takes all of the coins." Waluigi's pupils turned in to gold coins. "If he loses, there will still be a war but it will be one full of riots and hurting innocents, don't get me wrong here. Peach is letting freedom slide in the land, thankfully the Brigade do a really good job in ceasing attacks and riots around, but they're happening more often now." He took a scroll off the shelves and opened it up to be another copy of the letter Bowser originally sent to Peach concerning the races in the first place.

"I saw one of those messages, we all got given those, and I don't know how they got their hands on one though." Enrique looked at Waluigi, confused as he told him that fact. He turned his head right back to the scroll.

"I've seen this scroll many times before but it was the same one each time. Tom showed me one a couple days back. He said he found it in a crashed car about a couple days ago. I wonder who had it first." He scanned the scroll, noticing it had the exact same format as the other one. Enrique rubbed his finger on the scroll, feeling what he thought was the ink of Bowser's signature. It was photocopied. This was not the original copy.

"I'm guessing there's... seven of those?" Waluigi suggested. "One sent to Peach and Daisy, and then she must have copied six more to send to the other main competitors."

"Sounds accurate to me." Enrique replied. "I don't think the original copy was the one that Tom had, because he had given that one to DK when he hadn't seen anything like it before."

"I'm guessing Yoshi and Birdo still have theirs, Toad and Toadette must have theirs, Mario and Luigi must have theirs." Waluigi stated. "Ours is at the shack, we definitely left ours there."

"Where's your shack?"

"Saljiya, North Mushroom Kingdom."

"So nobody's bound to have snatched yours."

"So if those four duos have their copies, DK has his, the original one is probably in the hands of Peach and Daisy still, where's the last one?"

Enrique looked at the scroll again. "This is the last one... But it belongs to... Koopa and Paratroopa."

"The two must have taken it from them?"

"Indeed, all I know is that Koopa Cape lies somewhere near the Spire as shown on the map, when I was there five years ago for the first time in Urscan I caught a glimpse of them with Tom, but I never saw Koopa and Paratroopa." Enrique took the scroll, a map of the southern coastline and a folded map of the north outside with him; Waluigi still inspected some more documents in the draws.

"I found some interesting stuff about the Red Martyr council here!" He yelled from upstairs as Enrique reached the front door. "Some guide about making Portable Portals?"

"Leave that alone." Enrique called back. "You won't need that. That's not for you." He put his papers down on the floor by the door and rushed upstairs again, to see Waluigi reading through. He quickly rushed over to snatch the book off of him, making him look upset. "I'm sorry, but that's theirs, and we don't want them to know what we took from them. We got what we came for now." Enrique went back down and outside, Waluigi slowly followed but felt very down. The two walked down to the dirt path leading back to the main part of Isle Port, though Enrique was focusing in the other direction to the endless sea. He was amazed at the nature of the landscape; just a nice calm and bright plain lied in front of him, like a safe haven, completely untouched from the rest of the world.

"Does this place have a train station?" He asked Waluigi, assuming he would know since he's lived in this land his entire life.

"I don't know." He replied, giving an unhelpful answer."I'm not one to know if there's a train station in this town or another, I don't memorise them I barely use the trains." Enrique ignored his response and focused on the south.

"Take this map, and go back home or Toad Town." He handed over the map of Résethal to Waluigi. "I'll see you in a few days most likely." Enrique stepped forward and strolled over to the southern tip of the island, carrying the other map and the scroll in his hands. Waluigi was speechless; looking worried at Enrique as he got further and further away.

"You don't belong here!" Waluigi shouted timidly and with a stutter, as if he was starting to shiver and cry.

"No, but I am liking it better here than you are." Enrique replied harshly. Waluigi gasped, feeling broken, causing him no choice but to return in the opposite direction off the island. He was distressed because he had never felt so upset before.

As for Enrique, he disregarded Waluigi's feelings and proceeded onward for his own enjoyment, getting a closer look at the horizon. The sun began to set now to the southwest, further complicating Enrique's idea of how this world orbits its sun. Neither the creatures of the land nor the human inhabitants ever came to a justified conclusion as to how the land was shaped in extraterrestrial terms.

He stood firmly on the edge of the southern cliff of Isle Port, overlooking the horizon, below was just the harsh waves of the sea with nothing else to see down below. The sound of the crashing waves soothed his mind while he stared in to the distance, admiring the southern tip of the entire land, wondering if there was anything south of this point. The sea went on for miles and miles without any stretch of land. A big curiosity that came into Enrique's head was whether or not anybody in the lands has ever set off on a boat going south and only south, and if they ever made it back. The waves looked rough, even for the time of day, making him think that it would be very unlikely for people to set off and return alive.

Another thought of his times here.

He looked back to see that Waluigi had completely disappeared from the island and the sun eventually began to set on the southwest horizon. Another part of this land is that everywhere shared the same time zone. Muhu Delfethal seemed roughly the size of Switzerland according to some documents Enrique studied in Aypyidaw a few years back, another one of Muji's notes. He decided to take a nice stroll back off the Island, still carrying the scroll and the map of the southern coastline with him. As he reached the town part of Isle Port, he began to think about where to stay for the night, since for a human like Enrique, he didn't really own a place. He had just been taking temporary residence in hotels across the land or other people's houses.

The sun had set quickly; the sky was almost completely dark. But the brightness of the lights of the town had shined luminously across the island that he could still see the house of the twins. He thought hopefully the kids would not return while he would sleep there for the night. If they were on Earth it would only take a matter of minutes to pass to make sure they wouldn't return to see him there. Enrique was very tired after travelling around all day and actually needed sleep in this land; he couldn't afford to warp back to Earth to make it day again like he had done for the past few days. The twins' house was the only option for miles.

...

Back in Toad Town, most people had left back to their places of residence. The Kongs back to the Jungle, the Toads back to their homes, the Koopas, Shy Guy, Kamek and Dry Bones returned northward to the plains of their homes. Few had remained in Mushroom City, with Wario and Tom still sitting in the circle of Toad Town even after everybody else had gone back to their homes.

"You ever wondered how everybody showed up in different karts; I would've thought that there'd be more Torpedoes, or at least a Bowser Bike." Tom asked Wario as the sun set on the horizon of the lands, all of the stars and galaxies could be seen in the night sky, even an idle Comet Observatory.

"There aren't many duplicate karts of bikes." Wario replied with knowledge. "Plus only a few were modified, you look at mine for example." Tom got up and walked over to the Wario Bike, looking larger than what he thought it would be. "You've got the extra frame at the back for the item carrier to grip on to, and there's more space around the sides for us to switch positions if need be. I'm usually the driver when we raced together before, but on a bike it might be difficult to swap." The back of the bike was extended and included a metal frame hanging near the back wheel. What made it difficult to swap positions on the bike was the large exhaust pipe ends, Wario sighed as he looked at them.

"Would you need to swap often though? Enrique and I agreed that I'd be the one driving for most of the races, Enrique wants to drive on his preferred race, whenever that will be." Tom suggested. It came to a big surprise to Wario as he had never considered that option, back in the 4th tournament of Double Dash most of the racers tended to swap every minute or so.

"I think there was a reason as to why we had to swap often. Maybe in this tournament there will be the double item blocks. That's the reason why we had to swap; when we drove over a double item block we each got an item."

"Can't you just give your item to Waluigi if he's in the back seat? It's not like it's obligatory to swap just to throw weapons."

"Well, we all had to obey the rule that the person at the back had to throw the items. That was just how it went." Wario stated, giving a sign of an old rule. "Disqualification of the race was possible if people disobeyed this."

Tom laughed when he heard Wario say disqualification. "We cannot get disqualified in this tournament; this one can be the most vicious one yet. If you want to throw things in front of you, maybe this time they'd let the driver be able to throw ahead with one hand. I don't know, we'll see on the day, we weren't really told anything about that today."

"No." Wario agreed. "Everyone was silent and patient, but on the day of the first race everyone will be rivals with each other... mostly." He looked at Tom and the two laughed.

"You can't hate us, unless we have the lightning bolt!" The two laughed loudly again.

"Don't be bullet billing on the last lap!" Wario joked.

"Steal the first place!" Tom joked along. "By the way, we're having a 6th tournament item roster, how do you stop a POW block?" Wario was struck into deep thought.

"It's been so long ago since, I think we just had to hop and hope, or obviously be in the air." The two laughed a bit more before seeing Waluigi arrive from the southern woods, without Enrique. Waluigi didn't seem very well, but he was trying to cover his emotions up.

"What's wrong? Brother?" Wario asked with ease, quickly approaching Waluigi.

"Nothing much, just the future you know." Waluigi sobbed, looking down for most of his upset. He looked up and turned his head towards Tom, who was still sitting down, unaware of Waluigi's true sadness. "Do you see it too?" He questioned loudly to Tom.

"See what? The collapse?"

Waluigi nodded.

Tom got up and walked over to the two, looking both upset and silent, though Waluigi showed it more. "What did Enrique say to you?"

Waluigi was still silent for a bit.

"What did he say?" Wario asked as well, getting very protective over Waluigi.

"It was his approach to me." He finally spoke out, wiping the sweat off of his face. "We went to a house to collect some things, showing all about what could happen during and after these races. I have only realised now how bad it will turn out for all of us."

"What does he mean by this?" Wario looked at Tom, expecting he had an answer. He also took the map off of Waluigi that he had in his right hand, showing a colour-coded map of the north. "Why do you have this?"

"What he means... is now that Bowser and Peach are not keeping everybody occupied in their 'gentle' war, a group of evil neutral Koopas and Goombas named the Hostiles are further developing their forces established in the north and create riots and violence to people who support either Peach or Bowser. There have been loads of citizens who convert to join them, and that's what Waluigi's worried about I'm guessing." Tom explained, having a look at the map opened up and held by Wario. He recognised the map design; it was one of the makes of the twins. It came to Tom's thought that Waluigi and Enrique took a journey to the southern island of Isle Port to the twins' house where they live in this land.

"Were the twins at home when you visited them?" He asked Waluigi.

"No." He replied, looking back south to the woods where he thought Enrique would be.

"Of course not." Tom said frustratingly. "Those two have been in hiding ever since they vanished from the Powerhouse. They've been hiding however."

"Yeah I agree." Wario replied. "Since when did we all know that they moved to that house in the centre of that quiet island?"

"We found out earlier in 2014, but who knows how long they've actually been there for."

"We need their help." Waluigi suggested. "They're always good at staying out of the events that happen. The true neutrals."

Wario sighed at the statement just said by Waluigi, knowing for sure that it would not be possible. "What if they are staying out of this upcoming event by disappearing?"

"Wario... Those two have not been sighted ever since Enrique and I got here." Waluigi shivered as Tom mentioned Enrique again.

"Let's go back to Isle Port." Wario ordered. "Maybe we can find Enrique or anything else useful about the Hostiles; we should get as much information about them as possible before the races. Aypyidaw is too far to get information from the Red Martyr Council, so this house on the island will have to do." Tom nodded in agreement.

"Ride your bike there, will be much faster." He thought. Tom walked back to his Standard Kart M and Wario and Waluigi hopped on to their modified Wario Bike, both already set to 150cc. Waluigi signalled the direction to go in the woods, leading downhill into the plain that lied on the edge of the coastline, and in a few seconds, they drove off. Wario and Waluigi sped off in to the woods whilst Tom calmly proceeded on at a steady pace through the woods. He gulped as he watched the other two drift and speed down the hill professionally. As he reached the bottom his eyes were attracted to the moon, shining luminously in the dark sky, creating a very attractive reflection in the sea. Thankfully his kart didn't lay dirt marks on the grassland, as he was also careful and admired by the untouched grassland meadow. He was surprised to see such a strip of land untouched by most people despite being very close to the largest city in the entire land: Mushroom City. Tom looked around at the clear landscape, unable to spot Enrique in any bit of the area. He noticed Wario and Waluigi headed onto the road and drove on towards the bridge to Isle Port.

"Keeping up, Tom?" Wario joked as they saw him emerge from the woods.

"Waluigi knows where to go. I'll follow." He called from the distance before driving on to the road and heading straight to Isle Port. The road was still empty; the place seemed very desolate despite being very close to Mushroom City. Again, another big surprise about this area. Tom could feel a nice cool breeze blushing on his face as he drove quickly against the sea winds on to the island, completely ignoring any citizen that might be on the bridge driving by. The street lights of the town were lit, yet it still seemed abandoned. After looking around for a bit as he drove by, he finally noticed two Toad citizens inside the town bar by looking through the dusty looking windows.

"This place is not quite abandoned." Tom said as he stopped his kart by the end of the concrete road, next to the Wario Bike parked on the edge.

"Over there looks abandoned." Wario pointed towards the large marble house in the centre of the island.

"Wait a minute, why are there lights on?" Waluigi mentioned making the other two's eyes widen in surprise.

"Let's go." Tom proceeded on as quickly as he could onto the dirt path. Wario and Waluigi nodded in agreement to try and go as fast as they could and try to overtake Tom in his kart. They left roughly five seconds after Tom drove off of the concrete road. As Tom had reached the outside of the twins' house, he counted up to six as Wario and Waluigi stopped next to him.

"Too slow?" Tom mocked.

"What do you mean?" Wario said acting confused.

"We weren't racing you." Waluigi lied. "Don't try it."

"I knew it, you two waited exactly five seconds." Tom laughed, knowing he was right. He gave a big cheesy smile at the other two as they grinned.

"You got lucky." Wario joked. "Now let's have a look inside." The three got out of their vehicles and walked up the stairs to the front door. They all heard sounds of movement, someone was definitely at home. Tom quickly rushed upstairs of the house to the open room where he heard the sounds. Enrique quickly emerged out of one of the beds, wearing only his pants and his socks. His clothes lay on the other bed.

"Enrique?"

"Why are you here?"

"Put some clothes on..." Tom said quickly and then slowly as Wario and Waluigi ran quickly up the stairs and approached behind him. The two goons burst into laughter with each other at seeing Enrique half naked.

"I wanted to sleep, Tom, and you brought those two here?" He yelled, quickly moving over to the other bed to put his black clothes back on as the two kept laughing.

"Were you trying to sleep here? In a kid's house?" Waluigi joked around.

"Why are you laughing a few minutes ago you were sobbing to me." The laughter ceased immediately. "Who's laughing now, eh?" Enrique put his shirt and trousers back on, still leaving his black trench coat on the bed. "We aren't on good terms exactly Waluigi, are we?"

"Enrique, relax, it's just a little bit of humour." Tom said to Enrique trying to calm his rising anger.

"You know what he said to me? 'We don't belong here'." Enrique argued back, making Tom look at Waluigi, who turned red and quiet.

"Both of you can shut up as we find out what to do." Tom said in a ceasefire way, moving over to the shelves of books and scrolls.

"What are you looking for now?" Enrique asked.

"Information about the Hostiles." Tom replied, searching through all the stolen or self-made books of the twins. Wario and Waluigi gave bad looks at Enrique as they all walked over to the shelves.

"We already checked that when Waluigi was here the first time." Enrique mentioned to Tom as he looked through more. Tom stopped searching and turned his head to him.

"So all you're saying is the only useful things Waluigi managed to collect from here was a map of Résethal?" He yelled to Enrique, provoking an argument. However, Enrique was too tired to reply back loudly again.

"There was not much else, this is the twins' house after all, if you want real information go and ask the council. They're basically at war with the hostiles right now and are doing a damn good job to not get any of the citizens involved." Tom looked back to Wario and Waluigi and sighed.

"It's true." He said. "There's nothing much we can do except let time go by until the races, we can't afford to miss them."

"Go home you two." Enrique ordered the two to leave. Tom grinned anxiously, embarrassed at Enrique as they left going downstairs in a tantrum. They walked over to one of the windows to see them drift quickly away from the house and soon off of the island.

"I hate those two already, and it's the first time I've spoken to them in ages." Enrique fell back on to the left bed next to his trench coat, whilst Tom moved over towards the right bed and took of his coat.

"Seems like what they said is true, everybody's going to be rivals with each other." Tom stated. "It will be so much worse on the day of the first race."

"I don't care if we don't belong here as well, we are here now and we can't be stopped, we're too strong for them." Enrique said overconfidently.

"Perhaps, but speaking of rivals, who exactly are we... not, rivals with?" Tom questioned. Enrique looked up on his bed thinking.

...

"Rosalina?" Enrique suggested.

"Mhm."

Enrique turned over, looking at Tom across on the other bed. "Are you on good terms with Peach and Daisy?"

"I'm pretty certain that I am. Why?"

"Basically the other day Peach forced me out of her castle and got in a real bad mood all of a sudden." Tom laughed at the end of his sentence.

"Was Peach drinking at the time?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"Listen." Tom announced. "Whatever has happened between you and them recently, she and Daisy are both on good terms with you, Peach is only angry when she's had too much to drink. Ever since the New Year she's gone back to drinking loads again. I remember she would drink a lot when we were here the first time, same with Daisy and then they stopped when we dealt with the north. Looks like she's back to her 'war' self again." Enrique acknowledged with nods throughout.

"What about Yoshi and Toad? Toadbert and that lot." He suggested.

"They don't know us, so my guess would be no if they think we conspire with Bowser, plus we're neutral and they wouldn't like that."

"So that's a no."

"Indeed. But it doesn't matter, we made it in to the races and they must go on." Enrique grinned, looking back up to the ceiling.

"Let's get some sleep." Tom ordered. "I didn't sleep last night, I skipped last night, and I've been doing that very often. At least we can get sleep the night before each race as well."

"Yep." Enrique laughed. "If anything dangerous happens, we can easily escape the lands as well thanks to the warps, Muji is a legend. I really want to see him again one day; I hope all is good in the north." Tom brushed his forehead in anxiety.

"Umm, yeah definitely. Maybe you can visit him tomorrow; we don't exactly have a schedule of what to do, just show up to Mushroom City on the 15th I guess."

"Gotta love this place." Enrique smiled before wrapping himself in the bed duvet. He looked away from Tom as he took off most of his clothes before getting in to his bed.

"This isn't even our house." Tom joked, making them both laugh. "Now good night bro."

"Night Tom..."

**January 11, 2015 (1) – 1:00AM**

**Aypyidaw City, Southwest R** **é** **sethal**

"TOAD DOWN, TOAD DOWN!" A Koopa defender yelled from the walls next to the front gates. Several fighters rushed toward the incident where a Koopa spotted a Toad Guard lying down, bloodied from the neck.

"Looks like a dart of some sort." A brave Koopa pointed out, looking closely at the dead Toad's body.

"Make way! A council member is here!" A Goomba yelled at the gathered crowd of fighters surrounding the body.

"What's happened? Let me through!" Eoréc Jones, a high-ranking member of the Red Martyr Council, rushed forward and joined the crowd looking at the dead Toad. "Any ideas?"

"Hostile most likely, darted him from afar. We don't even know who could've done it." A random Toad from the crowd suggested. He was a near-witness, only seeing what had happened after the Toad had been hit by the dart. Eoréc put his fingers over to the Toad's neck, no pulse was detected.

"It could be a Hostile from any of the northern towns." Another Koopa stated.

"But it's happening too often now, they're slowly whittling our ranks and we need to take action. Send word to the leaders, they must know of this treachery coming from the northwest." A couple of the fighters in the crowd rushed away, showing no deep emotion of the lost life, though that is what the martyrs were trained for: to die one day with honour.

"Hostiles are rising mostly in the northwest, scattered across the lands however. There might still be some to the east in the towns near Vurduresa." A Koopa fighter informed Eoréc as they stared out in to the forests northward.

"I say we take action and start ceasing these Hostiles before it is too late." Eoréc proclaimed.

"But there are still innocents in those towns. We will be hurting innocent lives, that's not in our conduct." The Koopa fighter frustrated Eoréc.

"We have to save more lives in the long run, and besides, we can always vacate the innocents." He looked around to see more people guarding the walls around the town's main part. "Night duty is over, all get some rest." A Koopa in the crowd sounded a horn twice, alerting all guards to go off-duty and the front and station gates of the town were closed down. Eoréc led the rest of the squadron on the walls back down to the main open area of Aypyidaw, as they reached the bottom all of the Koopas, Toads and Goombas split up, going in to their houses to rest for the night. Only Eoréc and a few others proceeded in to the main building to meet the other high-ranking council members currently in Aypyidaw, where the body was taken to.

The fighters entered the main hall, where they could see Muji, Ledro, Koover and a few other members, all assessing and mourning the dead body.

"You've ordered us to close our defences for the night." Muji stated, standing directly on the other side of the table where the corpse rested from Eoréc.

"Our watchmen need rest; he should've spotted the spy who shot him down." Eoréc mentioned.

"We will have to deal with this issue in the morning then."

"It still bugs me, the fact that we've lost three ever since the start of this year. I knew the Hostiles were actually getting somewhere." He rested his fists on the table, looking around at all of the other members.

"I suggest we plan a mission soon, we can do this while the common folk are distracted by the events happening south. Especially the innocents, they will want to go down south and watch." Ledro stated.

"What if there's a race in the north, people here will want to watch, innocents and Hostiles alike." Muji warned. The other members discussed amongst themselves as the high-rankers listened in.

"Some of us can go to the towns where the Hostiles originate from. Gather information, prepare a skirmish, and rout any evil-doers and leaders amongst them." Eoréc decided. "As for the rest of us, we make sure that no single vermin we call Hostile ever sets foot with a weapon or bomb or any causer of violence and danger in to the viewing areas."

"We shall decide on that tomorrow, Archbarn will be around to talk, he's under an illness at the moment so he's had an early night." Muji informed.

"Look in to all the nearby towns that we have marked as hostile, those ones are the towns we must inspect. We have to find who's in charge." Koover stated, covering up the dead Toad as everybody finished mourning the body.

"Get some rest everybody, a storm is brewing, and it's full of evil-doers. We must protect the innocents, even if it means our lives." Muji ordered everyone to exit the main room. He, Eoréc and Ledro walked out through the back door and up stairs to their rooms. Archbarn lay fast asleep in his room to the left of the top of the stairs. Ledro looked out of the window overlooking the town; it was so unusual to see nobody outside during any time of the day or night.

"Let's hope there's nobody in the council who is secretly working for the hostiles." He said to the others as they got changed ready to sleep in their dormitories.

"I think we can trust everybody who is currently with us, or has been since 2010 when we first took action." Eoréc replied positively. "Jeanette would be the only problem inside the council.

"Jeanette broke an oath she swore to keep until the day she dies. She is not part of the council any longer." Muji replied lawfully. "If any one of us catches sight of Koopak _or_ her, kill them on sight. I will announce this in the morning." The other two were shocked at Muji's changed attitude.

"She's now an accomplice I guess." Ledro agreed.

"Koopak's crimes across the years have caused the deaths of many, nows the appropriate time to find him while all his followers would be busy watching the races." Muji mentioned to the others, just before he signalled lights out. "Tomorrow's a big day." He closed his dormitory door which lied next to Archbarn's. Eoréc and Ledro went in to their dorms which were on the opposite side of the room.

"So many things are happening at once, Ledro." Eoréc said before he closed his door. "We're now at war with the Hostiles, and we're still looking for Koopak after Jeanette betrayed us."

"We'll sort it out tomorrow, get some sleep." Ledro closed his door and turned his light off. Eoréc looked out of his dormitory window facing the town, it was in darkness. Everybody had already gone to sleep or at least turned their lights off. He feared that the bloodshed of his fellows would start to occur more often. Eoréc has seen what the Hostiles are like and how they are far more violent than Bowser's armies. What was worrying him the most is he's start to notice the disappearance of low-ranking council members, perhaps to be converted into the Hostiles' antics of warfare, or just to live without serving any higher purpose but themselves.

He turned his light off and went to sleep.

**EOC: I'm going to guess that I would have Mushroom City begin on Chapter 10 or 11, there's just too much stuff to write about, thankfully I am writing loads quickly and I'm being thorough with it by not rushing. If I went straight to the races there'd be so much left out and it wouldn't be so good. The good thing is you're all appreciating and enjoying it so far.**

**Any queries please give a review of PM me. Check my profile for any useful information as well related to the fanfic lore so far.**

**I also have a flowchart of all the characters SO FAR and how they're all related. If you want to see, PM me and I'll send it over.**


	8. The Red Martyrs

Fighting in the Streets

Chapter 8 – The Red Martyrs

**A/N: for a list of all contenders for the races and their selected vehicles, have a look at the start of Chapter 7 if you want to recall them.**

**By now you probably would have already read the previous chapters or prequels, or are just viewing this as it's been recently released.**

**Disclaimer: It's getting a bit difficult to determine if a character is Canon or OC at this point, but still anything owned by Nintendo is not mine.**

**January 11, 2015 – 9:45AM**

**Aypyidaw City, Southwest Résethal**

Sunshine.

Though the atmosphere didn't appreciate it, it was a rough morning in the town of Aypyidaw. Over 30 of the remaining Red Martyrs gathered in the great hall where Archbarn and Muji set alongside the other high-ranking members ready to announce the upcoming plans. The room was silent, with the main four sitting in front of the rest.

"Red Martyrs, I guess you all know the incident of our late Toad friend who was killed whilst guarding the city, he died for the cause." Archbarn announced.

"He died for the cause." All the other Martyr members followed quietly.

"This is the third casualty we have had this year, and it shall hopefully be the last that dies within the borders of our ground. We must go out in to the open lands of the north and put an end to the rising force that is the Hostiles." He continued. The martyrs all seated themselves.

Ledro remained stood up, looking at all of the members sitting in the great hall. "Our plan has been confirmed this morning; we must send a scouting skirmish using our stealthiest troops. We will tour a small set of towns north of the rail tracks to Dargo. Though we will not be going there because it is considered very dangerous to scout, we will visit some other small towns in the northwest. These cities include the following: Ryanne, Tustar, Rymhell, Sennus, and we will be inspecting Wario Colosseum." The people at the front could hear the muttering of discussion amongst all those who sat inside the room. "Anybody willing to join me on this scouting mission please stand up." Ledro finished. He saw several members of different species ascend up saluting him, ready to leave as soon as he decided. Among those who stood up, Koover was one of them, willing to join Ledro on the mission. He announced the disembarking in an hour, when everybody would be geared up and ready to go.

"As for other news." Muji took over. "Guard duty will resume as normal, but we need a select few to monitor the largest towns of the north and their stations at night, to see if anybody is making a trip south and would potentially cause any harm. Dismissed."

The council went off in their own ways, most going outside to train or to do other things in their lives. Ledro escorted those who stood up for him outwards via a door to the left, leading to a negotiation room. Those who remained inside the great hall were Archbarn, Muji, and Eoréc.

"I wouldn't be surprised if one of ours doesn't make it back from that mission of Ledro's." Archbarn sobbed whilst sitting at the great hall table. Muji looked at him with disbelief, contemplating the purpose of the council again.

"The best way to go into a Hostile town is as a Hostile." He said. "Let's just hope that none of the towns he visits have Hostiles in them."

"I've heard one of the towns he had mentioned is known for murdering innocent people." Eoréc stated. The other two looked across the table at him in surprise.

"Which town did he mention?" Muji asked.

"Sennus." He replied. "It's one of the northernmost villages in the land, closest to 'Beyond the North', I have been there once before when I was younger, I saw innocent people who tried to travel northward slain by Koopas there. I've also seen those Hostiles slay messengers of Bowser himself."

"It's a funny thing actually." Archbarn interrupted. "Most of the areas of hostility in Résethal lie to the far east near Vurduresa and Urscan. They used to be the main areas of battle in the years back and even in The Great War. However the places considered most dangerous are the outlying towns and including Dargo."

"They have weapons in Dargo, dangerous ones. Peach never wants to step foot in that town or anywhere near it again." Eoréc mentioned.

"Let's hope for the best for Ledro and his men then..."

_ROUGLY AT THE SAME TIME..._

**Isle Port, South Mushroom Kingdom**

"Hey... Tom."

"Tom?"

He slapped his face lightly.

"Tom, wake up!"

"What?" Tom said with his eyes closed, half asleep."

"Rosalina's outside."

"WHAT? Why is she here?"

"I don't know, but she's almost at the door."

"Hello? Is anybody home?" She called from the front door.

"I'll see her, you get dressed." Enrique whispered to Tom before dashing off down the stairs.

"Rosalina."

"Enrique? What brings you here? There's no race track to practice here!" She mocked him as she saw him descend down the stairs.

"Very funny." He said monotonously. "Tom and I were resting here for the night; we... went a bit out of our way in things and ended up in this-."

"Lovely house belonging to those two kids." She interrupted. "Where are they anyway? I got so happy when I saw the front door open thinking they were at home."

"We thought the same really, nobody's actually seen them ever since we got here... got in to this world." Enrique said, just as they noticed Tom walk down the stairs as well to meet them.

"Yeah, we haven't found them here." He added. Rosalina gave out a loud sigh, walking around the main room. "So why are you here then?" Tom asked her.

"They're neither at the Spire nor at the Powerhouse. I noticed something when I was there last; it looks like the power running the northern towns is going to have a shutout soon. If that happens, the riots will happen again because they're the only ones who can save the power and they're not here right now!" She gradually got worried the more she spoke. Tom and Enrique still looked at her normally. "I want to see the council about this, maybe they know where the twins are."

"What if those passcodes used to change the power there are stored in one of the books they have upstairs?" Enrique suggested. "I've been to the Powerhouse before; I know what it's like." Rosalina brushed past the two of them quickly, making them turn around to look up and see what she might be looking for.

"You guys slept in their beds?" She yelled from upstairs, looking at the unmade beds. Enrique giggled as he crept up the stairs with Tom to already see some books on the floor even before seeing Rosalina.

"Is there nothing you could find about it in the library in the comet observatory?" Tom suggested.

"Why would I have knowledge of this?" She replied sarcastically. "The books there are all about studying the galaxies and stars, not about powering a giant object in the middle of nowhere." Enrique and Tom looked at each other, confused at that statement.

"What does that remind me of?" Tom laughed.

"Isn't that what your spaceship thing is? A giant object in the middle of nowhere." Enrique added whilst seeing more books drop to the floor.

"Listen here, I don't think the passcodes are actually going to help." Tom pointed out. "They won't help you fix a shutout on the power supply of the Spire." Rosalina looked back at both of them after removing almost every book off of the shelves. She looked at them furiously as they sat down on the stairs looking careless.

"You two don't know how dangerous this is." She lectured. "If the power breaks, we get another war against the north. It will clash with the races and all those who will be watching us while we race are at risk of being killed in attacks led by them. We'll be caught off guard and that's when they'll attack us." The two became more serious about the agenda now, getting up and cleaning the dust off their clothes.

"So you're saying... war could break out any time soon?" Enrique thought.

Rosalina nodded.

"Then we ride to the council. We can see what they have to say about it." Tom planned.

"Where's the nearest station?" Enrique asked, looking at Rosalina.

"Mushroom City is too much of a risk to go to, so the nearest one should be Elhelm, a small town to the west, just after Peach Beach."

"Before we go." Enrique interrupted the others from leaving the house. "Can we get some food?" The other two looked at him quietly, and then looked at each other, remembering something very important in life: to always stay well-nourished.

"But is there food in this house? All I can spot is the fruit bowl over there." Tom pointed to across the room. There were a couple of bananas and an apple, looking rather fresh surprisingly. Enrique rushed over to the bowl and scoffed some of the apple immediately.

"Are you going to have some, Rosalina?" Tom asked as he walked over to the fruit bowl.

"No thanks, Tom. I've already... eaten this morning." She replied slowly.

"Well take care of yourself." He warned positively as he peeled one of two bananas he picked up from the bowl. Enrique went and took a banana as well and put it in his pocket to eat on the way there.

As the three humans walked outside they were blinded by the bright sunlight shining directly above them. It was a very hot and summer-like day in the South, much like the hot summers on Earth, even for January.

"Oh sweet, you got our kart parked here outside." Enrique stated, looking at the Standard Kart M, untouched by Wario and Waluigi from last night.

"Are we gonna take that with us or?" Tom thought.

"Leave it here." Enrique ordered. "We can pick it up when we get ready for Mushroom City." He then looked at Rosalina. "Which way?"

She pointed across the sea from the island to the mainland going westwards. "Elhelm is just in front of Peach Beach. It's the town that lies next to it."

"That place looks a lot like Delfino Plaza." Enrique spotted as he peeked in to the distance whilst they strolled towards the Isle Port cliffs on the northwest side, overlooking the shores of the mainland.

"Every town along the coast here has a similar look and design, all the way from Sirenna Beach which is furthest east to the Isle Delfino itself. Elhelm just happens to be the one that Peach used to enjoy her younger years at, so they named the beach after her." Rosalina explained. The three had just reached the main town, still looking across the sea whilst making their way across the beach.

"It's very interesting." Enrique added. "Why does Isle Port look different to the rest then?"

"Because Isle Port is quite new, you see all the buildings here look very modern and different to the rest." She responded, demonstrating her use of time here by analysing the entire land. "I know this place like the back of my mind." She ended.

The three crossed the bridge and returned to the meadow plain that stretched along the southern coastline. There was no direct road to Elhelm from Isle Port, so the best way to go was by foot along the colourful grassland and then down a hill to the Beach or straight in to the town. The sun reflected light down to Peach Beach and into their eyes. As they proceeded closer to the town centre the grassland faded away into a dirt and brick pathway. The cliffs that stood below the bridge to Isle Port continued all the way along to the town, the three were already standing with the first buildings of the town directly in front of them. Tom could already notice that a building further in the town had a giant billboard representing advertisement for the races.

"Tickets for sale now." He read to the others. "Payment in coins, two gold coins per seat." He could not read the rest as the text was too small; he nudged the others indicating the need to get a closer look.

The town looked very busy, and they were nowhere near the beach or the train station. Thankfully the Toads and Piantas of the town seemed uninterested in the arrival of the three, letting walk freely.

"Peach has already announced all the races so far, and has put a price on them." Tom continued.

"Mushroom City on the 15th, Yoshi Valley on the 17th, Mushroom City on the 19th. They seem to be on every other day." Enrique pointed out. "Shy Guy Falls being on the 29th."

"We need to get to the station to see if there's a train going northward. Come on boys!" Rosalina rushed ahead, running across the roads and heading northward towards the station. Tom looked up noticing the directions to the station were true in Rosalina's path, but he only decided to follow on by walking. Enrique doing the same.

Rosalina eventually arrived to the station, situated underground. It was a very small station, with only one platform travelling each way. One towards Mushroom City and Sirenna Beach, the other going towards Delfino. She needed to look at the train times to plan the journey, to see if there would be a need to switch trains at a specific station. As Tom and Enrique arrived they all looked up at the times board together.

**7 min – Mushroom City (M) – P2**

**29 min – Hern Way, via Sutfort (D) – P1**

**31 min – Sirenna Beach (M) – P2**

"By my assumptions on where we're going, it's going to be quite a wait here." Enrique stated.

"We will have to stop at Seven Farms on the way to Hern, and then we will have to get a train north." Rosalina constructed. "One thing I do hate about being down on Earth is I can't get fast travel."

"Best to go and explore the town then." Enrique led Tom out of the station and walked down the road to the fountain in the centre of town, overlooking Peach Beach. For quite the busy town it was surprising for the two to see nobody on the beach. This gave them the thought that perhaps it's going to be used as a race.

"You think we'll race here one day?" Tom asked. "It's possible Peach has already seen our races, somebody might've picked here."

"Nope." Enrique replied, leaning against the barrier on the side next to the fountain. "This race isn't cool enough." He decided to climb over the barrier and get on to the track. Tom was startled and many other citizens noticed him get over. Tom could only think to climb over to see him as well, knowing for sure he wouldn't come back if he told him to. They could both hear commotion in the crowds building up as the two breached over.

"We have a train to catch; I don't want us dawdling around this track." Tom persuaded. "They might call the brigade on us!"

"Free Passage, remember?" Enrique joked back as he jumped over towards the centre patch of grass, encircled by the circuit track. Tom sighed and ran after him, getting a great view of not only the sea and Peach Beach, but the entire town of Elhelm behind them including a large mob of worrying citizens. They noticed the constant high tide of the waves was what kept the sea level of the centre changing. Enrique moved his head slowly upwards whilst staring at the centre pool of water, only to notice a familiar island laying a few hundred metres off shore: Palm Shore.

"Why are you here of all places, Enrique? Why can't you just do something that doesn't get everybody's attention for once?" Tom complained, giving a bad look to Enrique while he just stared directly to the southern sea.

"Because I get amazed at this place, don't you?" He replied. "You can do what you want to do; I'm not going to stop you. Because I sure know that you won't stop me from doing what I please around here." His harsh words moved Tom emotionally.

"Yeah, alright. Just get back to the station in time." Tom said, backing away from Enrique and slowly approaching the town centre again.

"We still have 22 minutes." He replied before turning back facing the sea. Tom watched as Enrique slid down to the sandy part of the beach, turning left as he got to the bottom of the rocky cliff face. Tom rubbed his sweaty face and rushed back in to Elhelm. He saw the crowd of citizens stare at Tom happily as he climbed over the race track barrier. The look of their smiles gave him relief when he got back down, though he was lost for words to say to them all. Tom decided to rush back to the train station and wait there hoping to see if Rosalina was there as well. All of the citizens turned their heads as he got out of their way and up the road, remaining still.

"Where's Enrique?" Rosalina asked Tom as he reached the platform.

He looked back outside and to the beach. "Over there." Tom pointed to the shores beyond the sight of buildings. Rosalina facepalmed and looked back at the train time board, they still had 15 minutes. Tom looked around in the train station and noticed even more posters and boards advertising the races. Peach must have gone fully out on the advertising.

"Haven't you noticed how publicised these races have been? This is supposed to be Bowser's death request not an official tournament." Rosalina, who was also looking around at the posters, complained to Tom.

"Treat it like one then." Tom replied. "You'll play better if you value it more." She acknowledged his improvised wise words.

"She wants the whole world to watch it, knowing her she's got the creatures in space watching it too from live broadcasting." Rosalina thought.

"Which Rainbow Road did you choose?"

"Not the recent one, that one was shit." The two walked over to a bench next to the train line and sat down.

"You probably know already, but Enrique and I are not going to be one of the best here. But you have the potential to win with Pauline, if you become the driver all the time." Tom said to Rosalina. "There's probably going to be a big gap between the best players and the next best players."

"I agree with you there, I am going to be the driver, it's my bike." She replied. "Bowser's going to be a problem, Funky Kong is going to be a problem, Peach Daisy, Mario Luigi, Wario Waluigi might be a problem, nobody else seems that dangerous to first place."

After more time had passed, Enrique showed up at the station, turning towards the other two after reading the board. The train was due to arrive in one minute. He strolled over quite happily towards them and stood against the wall next to them, waiting for the train to arrive.

"So where did you bugger off to in the end?" Rosalina asked him, waiting a while for a reply.

"Just took a stroll on the beach." He replied. "Wanted to get a good look of the coastline, and just have a bit of exploration." Surprisingly, based on the lack of commotion coming from the citizens outside, Enrique did not seem to have done anything stupid. Nobody had followed him in to the station either.

"He does that often." Tom mentioned to Rosalina awkwardly. "The exploring bit." She looked back at Enrique.

"No problem with that." She replied in a high pitch, still staring at him while he watched an incoming train from the east approach the platform. The carriages looked very busy on the inside, though the first carriage seemed empty. Rosalina got up and led the other two down the platform to get on to the first carriage. As the train slowed down, the citizens inside the train stared at them with widened eyes. Tom and Enrique did not bother to see anybody inside the train through the windows as they were walking along the platform next to the stationary train. After getting in through the first door to the front carriage, the three sat themselves down near the front. Two Koopas were reading newspapers further back in the carriage, but they didn't seem to pay attention to them as they sat down.

"Where do we get off at again?" Tom asked Rosalina.

"Seven Farms, then we take a train northward. Seven Farms is a very busy train station so be careful, it's almost as big as Mushroom City's station." She replied. She and Tom sat opposite each other on the right side of the train. Enrique moved over to the empty left side of the train, hoping to get a good view of the coastline.

_This is the Platform 1 service to: Hern Way via Sutfort. Calling at: Frinméy Beach, Ardror, Gelato Beach, Winnick, Seven Farms, Bianco Hills, Noki Port, Sutfort, Hilltop Valley, Frilid Beach, Delfino Outlying Islands Port, Eksar, and Hern Way. Change at Seven Farms for trains to: Delfino Capital, Allam Junction and Donut Plains._

"5 stops, only to Seven Farms. This is going to be a while." Tom counted in his head.

Enrique looked back at him from constantly staring out the window. "What's the rush?" He then looked back at Rosalina, who pulled a stressed expression. "Oh, right."

"We just need to get there today, it's not like the power's going to cut." Rosalina sighed.

The train disembarked from the platform, heading quickly out at a high speed. As it left the station, the open fields and meadow look appeared again and Enrique could see the colourful coast again. It's like it was never cloudy in the south. He saw big green flat plains of grass leading to a change in yellow for the bright sand. Also there were stretches of brick blocks flying in the air, completely untouched. In his mind he thought that could be a couple of coins just like that. It's a real shame he wasn't out there to collect them. He wondered: how could those blocks have coins in them and no Toad has ever gone and knocked them out? That's a set of tickets for the whole family.

"It's illegal now." Rosalina said to Enrique, who caught him wondering about them as he looked at more and more of them whenever they passed by them.

_The next Station is: Frinméy Beach_

"Any break of those blocks above ground is considered against the law; if caught the punishment is a fine equal to 5 times the amount of coins you got from them." She mentioned. The law must be relatively new since Enrique and Tom used to break blocks for coins for years.

"Wow, but underground you can knock them down?" He asked as the train stopped at the platform of Frinméy Beach Station. He managed to get a straight view from the station straight down to the beach from where he was sitting.

"Most underground areas are lawless now anyway. So you can freely get coins down there, but there's the risk of getting your way up safely, and since it's lawless, nothing's gonna stop creatures down there from attacking and maybe killing you." Enrique seemed baffled, quickly turning his head back to face the window. One Toad citizen entered the carriage, taking up a seat opposite one of the two Koopas already on board. Shortly after he sat down, the train disembarked out of the station, going onward at a high speed again. Tom looked bored out of his head. He was never a fan of the trains or the trains back on Earth when he was younger. Both he and Rosalina sat in awkward silence opposite each other on the train whilst Enrique still looked amazed, staring at the outside. The shoreline became further away as the train tracks turned away from it, though the bright green grassland still amazed him. The train then passed a series of ponds of clear water, still fulfilling Enrique's amazement for a few minutes.

_The next Station is: Ardror_

"What's special about this town then?" Tom asked Rosalina, attempting to start a conversation to get rid of the awkward silence.

"Nothing." She replied blandly. "This town's even smaller than Frinméy, and there are bigger towns that don't even have a train station." Tom looked up ahead to see a typical desolate settlement with two train tracks running through the centre. He caught sight of a road which led up a hill which he assumed would go towards a bigger town or onto a highway or motorway equivalent.

"Well are there any interesting towns on our route to Aypyidaw?" He asked, still trying to keep up the conversation. Rosalina thought for a moment. Tom looked over to Enrique to see him no longer looking out the window, but trying to read another Koopa's newspaper cover. Enrique was unable to send the message over to Tom on what the cover said, but he assumed it would most likely be advertisement about the races.

The train stopped at the station.

"It depends on how we get to Aypyidaw via Seven Farms; Donk City is a pretty interesting town. We might pass Allam Junction, that's a pretty busy place. We also might pass Uldersal, where Koopak's family lives. Did you know Koopak II has a brother?" Tom gasped.

"Really, do people want him dead too? What's his name?" He replied with enthusiasm.

"Joharnés Asquia is his name, people want him, but not dead. He's not as bad as the rest of his family. He lives in Uldersal with the rest of the family, but don't go near their area of the town, it's dangerous."

The train took off again. Nobody had entered nor exited the carriage.

"But we might pass Uldersal, we might not." Rosalina concluded. Enrique's face brightened up as he began to see the coastline again. The train travelled downhill on its track towards the next town.

_The next Station is: Gelato Beach_

"Ooh, Gelato Beach!" Enrique said happily, he moved over to the seat opposite, facing towards the towns ahead of him. Gelato Beach stuck out, just like how Enrique remembered in the game. The entire place looked very similar to how he thought it would be, with the only different parts being the train station situated just on the hill lying next to the beach. He noticed all of the palm trees and the same beach coastline pattern. It all appeared much more detailed though.

"This one's quite busy." Rosalina said to Tom as the train stopped; outside the window they noticed several Toads and Piantas board the train. Five citizens sat themselves on each available seat they could see. One broad-looking Toad moved inwards to sit next to Tom, discomforting him and looking at Rosalina with a cheesy smile. However, nobody sat opposite Enrique; his seats and the ones opposite him were empty yet there would be Piantas and Toads sitting next to each other. Tom was afraid to say anything else now that a citizen was sitting right next him. Rosalina faced the window so Tom did the same as the train disappeared from the station at a fast speed.

"How many stops?" Enrique asked Rosalina.

"Two." She replied softly, looking back out the window again. Enrique looked around to see all of the citizens occupying themselves on board. One Toad had already got a ticket to the Mushroom Bridge race event in his hand. He stared at it in his hands, looking happily possessing it. Enrique looked more closely at it to see if there was any stacked underneath the ticket the Toad was holding. The Toad quickly looked up and noticed Enrique and gave a big smile. Enrique gave a nod in return. The Toad gestured if he was able to walk over and sit next to Enrique, but he refused so the Toad would not be able to see Rosalina and Tom. He looked out the window to see if he could see the coast one more time, but it had disappeared.

_The next Station is: Winnick_

The small town approached ahead, it had a similar resemblance to Ardror being a very small town with no beach and with a train line running through the middle. Being slightly bigger, as they approached some more people boarded the train. One Koopa got off the train as it stopped and two more appeared in the carriage. One being a Pianta sat at a seat further back on the carriage whilst the other Koopa approached the seats next to Enrique, who quickly gestured again to refuse the Koopa from sitting down opposite him. The Koopa reached far enough to notice Tom and Rosalina sitting on the other side. Annoyingly enough for Enrique, the Koopa still sat down eagerly opposite him.

The train sped off again, heading now directly to Seven Farms.

"You're Enrique!" He chanted quietly. Enrique just nodded silently in return. The Koopa showed him tickets he had in his pocket, four for his family all to see the Mushroom City race and four more to see the Maple Treeway race.

"You bought those tickets just now?" He asked monotonously.

"Yup." The Koopa replied. "Only in a few days, where are you heading to? Shouldn't you be practicing or something?" Enrique's expression dropped to a more disappointing look.

"That's none of your business." He replied. The Koopa turned his head towards the bored-looking Tom and Rosalina, both not used to having many people on the carriage. "Where are you heading to?"

"Sutfort, I'm coming back from work, we were not called in for the afternoon. So I'm going to bring the good news to the family at home." He said happily despite not being able to work for the rest of that day. "I don't know how you two race, but my favourites to win are either Rosalina's team..." He looked back at Rosalina with a big smile; she gave an effortless neutral look back. "... and the Koopa Troopas."

"Interesting." Enrique deliberately tried to show as little care as possible to the content Koopa. "Are we there yet?" He asked Rosalina, embarrassing the Koopa.

"Almost here."

_The next Station is: Seven Farms, change here for services to and beyond: Delfino Capital, Allam Junction and Donut Plains_

"Thank goodness." Enrique got up and walked over to the carriage exit doors, Tom and Rosalina got up as well and approached next to Enrique, with about three other citizens behind them also getting off.

"You'll have to see where we're going." Tom said to Rosalina as the train approached the platform to stop. "We barely take the train."

The train stopped and the doors opened. The station seemed overground, but it was huge and open. Rosalina rushed forward as they got off quickly, brushing past all of the citizens who were about to board the train they were just on. As they ascended some stairs towards the centre of the station, they met with another large screen showing all the upcoming train arrivals, there were tons.

**Due – Hern Way via Sutfort (D) – P1**

**3 min – Palmwood Station (M) – P11**

**6 min – Zeltarc West via Sunset Wilds (W) – P5**

**8 min – Mushroom City (M) – P2**

**10 min – Castelia Station (R) – P10**

**12 min – Aypyidaw Station via Allam Junction (R) – P8**

**15 min – Tumark City via Hadrogar (W) – P6**

"We can go direct." Rosalina stated. "To Platform 8... Where that is!" The three looked around and realised they were surrounded by rushing Koopas, Toads, Goombas, Piantas and even Yoshis.

"That way!" Enrique pointed towards a sign reading 'Platforms 7 and 8' followed by an arrow indicating the direction.

Advertisements of the races were scattered all across the giant station. Some of the billboards even had posed pictures of Peach, Daisy, Mario and Luigi in racing gear. One relatively updated sign showed tickets to the Mushroom City races already sold out, though broadcasting was available for people to watch the race from their own homes.

As the three approached the platform, they had to wait a good while for the train to appear as the board next to the platform still showed 8 minutes until arrival. Rosalina, Tom and Enrique all stood patiently by the platform waiting...

"Tom? Enrique?" A human-sounding voice called from the distance. The three turned their heads to see a white human and a brown human rush forward to meet.

"Jack, nice to see you here." Tom shook Jack, the white human's hand in delight.

"Nice to see you three here too." He quickly moved over to shake Enrique's hand as well. The brown-skinned human stood patiently and awkwardly next to Jack as he greeted Rosalina. "This is my colleague slash friend. Ronald Rodriguez."

"I don't think we've met before, nice to meet you." Tom offered a handshake greet to Ronald.

"Don't think so, nice to meet you too." He replied gratefully. Enrique just gave a smile to him, but focused more on what Jack was about to say.

"I'm heading up to Aypyidaw with Ronald to meet with the council if they're not busy. I've also got bad news." Jack announced.

"We're going to Aypyidaw too actually." Enrique replied. "Why do we need to go again?" He looked back at Rosalina. "And what's the bad news?" Jack waited for Rosalina to speak first.

"We too have to speak with the Martyrs to see if they can help stop a massive problem arising in The Spire." She shied out afterwards, typically common for her to do.

"Well, I've been banned from the Mushroom Kingdom, so now I'm unable to go to two districts now, Wuhu being the first. This means I won't be able to spectate your big race happening in a few days... and perhaps many other races to come." Tom felt disheartened, as did Enrique and Jack.

"That's a real shame, but we have more important things to address at the moment, maybe you could help us sort the problem out." He suggested to the two.

"Well we were going to ask for help from the Martyrs, but Ronald over here thinks he might be able to deal with the problem, I think we all know how serious of a matter this is." Jack looked back to Ronald, who showed a wrench to the others, giving a sign that he thinks he knows what he is doing.

"Good! Good." Tom said as the train approached.

"All get on the front carriage, it's the most likely to be empty." Rosalina led the other four quickly to the front where they boarded the train. It had come from Noki Port, and had only just started its journey so there were few people on to start with. Nobody was seen through the windows of the front carriage, so they all boarded on quickly. As they all got inside, Ronald stayed at the back and closed the door and locked it with a wrench and padlock.

"Lock up?" Jack asked Ronald as he lastly sat down next to the rest.

"Yup."

"Lock up?" Tom asked. Jack pointed to the back of the carriage where the padlock was placed.

"Nobody's gonna annoy us on this carriage." Enrique peeked over to see the padlock and praised Ronald.

_This is the Platform 8 service to, Aypyidaw via Allam Junction. Calling at: Munhraw, Uldersal, Allam Junction, North Downs, Donk City, and Aypyidaw. Change at Allam Junction for trains to: Symaer and the Wuhu Kingdom._ The speakers of the train sounded.

As soon as the train departed from the station at high speed, the track followed northwards with two different farmlands on each side. The entire area seemed very unfamiliar to Enrique and Tom as Seven Farms was never a name they had remembered.

"So..." Tom said awkwardly. "What were you doing here then?" He asked Jack.

"Well." He began to lecture. "It all started shortly after that whole bazooka incident in Peach's Castle. I was there with Enrique and many others there." Jack began to picture the story to everybody on the train listening in...

Princess Peach had ordered everybody to get out of the castle by ringing an alarm and setting off all the Toad Brigade already inside the castle to come and capture anybody she despised. Thankfully she was not after me and Enrique but I think the Brigade chased after our boys George and Toby, I've had no contact with them since and no idea where they might be at. You see we have a kind of house in a town in North Delfino Kingdom called Sarlan, a couple tens of kilometres west of Blockfort. It's not on this route but we're going towards it. Anyway, after everybody had been chased off I stayed on the top floor with Enrique and Peach. Shortly after, the Mario brothers and Daisy had arrived and noticed the scene of the incident, when she told me and them to stay outside while she spoke to Enrique about something; I told them that it was done by the well-known Koopak Asquia II. Mario didn't believe me at first and then they questioned whether it was done by us humans.

"We don't want you scoundrels messing around in such desperate times!" Daisy yelled at me, I was unsure how to reply to it.

"This had nothing to do with anybody who was up there but Peach, Koopak tried to kill her and Bowser at the same time." I said back to them, none of it seemed convincing to them. For the meantime I was issued a ban in the Mushroom Kingdom and they probably did the same for George and Toby, wherever they are...

I ended up leaving Mushroom City later that night and escorted out of the land to here, the closest large city from the Mushroom Kingdom. I stayed around here for a few days trying to get my act together and see if I could redeem my Free Passage even though I was banned from the Wuhu Kingdom. Ronald came over a couple days back and now we're on our way back to the Red Martyrs.

"Why are you banned from Wuhu?" Rosalina asked him after he finished the lecture.

"They thought I conspired with the terrorism acts there so I'm not allowed in that Kingdom anymore." He replied, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"But wasn't it you and some other person who captured Jagem Lakitu and dumped him outside Wuhu Island just before the acts?" Tom questioned, remembering that he witnessed the drop from the helicopter. "He was heavily influenced by the attacks."

"Anyway." Jack ignored. "The point is... word is being spread about this huge threat coming from the north and people are saying that the humans should unite and become the rulers of the land, all four districts to minimise the amount of violence that's now occurring everywhere." Jack got out his phone and showed everybody a newspaper article saved on his phone.

"43 dead and several others injured in a set of mass bomb explosions in Vurduresa." Enrique read.

"And we're not talking about bob-omb explosions, actual bombs, dangerous ones." Jack concluded. "That was this morning. Another act of the Hostiles."

_The next Station is: Munhraw_

Jack got out a train map of Résethal and placed it flat out on the table in front of him. "They have stopped all trains going to or via Vurduresa now, which also means no trains to Takhar, Karbût, Stromji, Amurun, and Erbec Fields." He pointed. "This pretty much means no access to any town in Vurduresa by train, that's if you want to go to The Powerhouse or just to inspect the towns you will have to either drive or go by foot. We have to inform the Red Martyrs about this if they have not heard so already."

"So that's why you're coming to Aypyidaw to see them." Rosalina mentioned.

"Exactly."

_ABOUT AN HOUR LATER..._

_The next station is: Aypyidaw, via Résethal Tunnel C._

_This train terminates at the next stop. For any additional information about journeys onward, please check the assistance found at the next station._

The five eventually arrived at the station, with their carriage doors still sealed so that nobody ever approached the door and tried to enter while they were conspiring. Ronald disassembled his padlock and put all the items back in to his pocket, and then he opened up the door as the train stopped.

"To the council now everybody." Jack escorted everybody discretely off of the train and quickly out of the platform area. Half of those wandering around the station were Résethal citizens and others were guarding council members. Following the same footsteps as Rosalina once did, the five rushed quickly in to the main area of the town and headed straight into the council building and in to the great hall. Only Archbarn was there, inspecting maps laid out on the giant table in the centre.

"My friends." He turned around and noticed. "Have you heard the dear news of Vurduresa?" The five quickly seated themselves around the table.

"Yes we have." Jack replied immediately. "Ronald and I came here to address it, if nobody has done so already."

"We lost a fellow fighter this morning as well; Ledro has led an expedition with a few other men to the relatively safe north-western towns to deal out any Hostiles that may have been responsible. Eoréc on the other hand has gone to Vurduresa with others to give aid to those involved in the tragic accident that just happened recently." Archbarn lectured. The map was a huge scale copy of Résethal, detailed with towns, train tracks, race tracks and other important locations.

"Where's Muji." Tom asked, hoping he would find him.

"He's in his quarters, I can get him down here soon if you want, and why did you ask anyway?" Archbarn replied suspiciously, getting an unconvincing face from Enrique thinking something odd would be happening.

"We have another problem." Rosalina added. "There might be a shutout in one of the power cables in the Powerhouse connected to the Spire, more importantly it's the one that connects to the grid of power for the northern towns of Castelia, that includes Dargo, Konhip etcetera." Archbarn gasped, the other were unsure if it was in a good way or a bad way.

"Well, that should be a good thing, am I right? If they have no power they will not be able to build their weapons or whatever it is they are hiding there. It sounds like a great time to start a siege." He responded brightly.

"It's a bad thing!" Rosalina yelled. "Castelia is affected too! There'll be riots, proper ones this time! There'll be more violence than before as well."

"Sounds like a bad idea if you ask me." Enrique agreed. "We need your help to try and amend it, and I refer to all of you guys here."

"Yeah I don't think I can sort the problem out with the tools I have." Ronald added. "The wires and cables of the Powerhouse and Spire are well beyond my complexion."

"Then we must go there quickly, and solve it hopefully before the races begin. Sadly there are no trains servicing beyond Vurduresa, meaning there's probably an effect on that power cable as well." Archbarn stood up eventually. "I shall get Muji, and-."

"But I'm already here." Muji's voice came from the front doors of the great hall and out of the shadows of the room he appeared. "I've heard it all, both things: the attack in Vurduresa and the shutout for Castelia's power. We must go immediately to the Powerhouse; in a couple days maybe we will reunite with Ledro and Eoréc about their missions." Muji lastly looked over to Rosalina. "When's the last time you spoke to Pauline?"

"It was when we all met yesterday to decide the races and all. I'm surprised there are no advertisements about the races here." Rosalina replied shyly. "She's most likely in Mushroom City celebrating with the Mario Brothers and the Princesses about the upcoming races knowing her."

"I'm sure if she knew about the problems we're currently facing she would come straight up here and help out. You should really be practicing with her for the races if you want to win Rosalina; we're counting on you here." She looked flattered and turned red. Tom and Enrique felt offended about their lack of mention.

"But what about us?" Tom asked interrogatingly.

"You two don't need training; you know how you'll do anyway." Muji joked around, making the rest of the group laugh.

"Ha-ha, but he's right you know, Rosalina. I think you should leave this place and go straight down south to meet with Pauline again; you need to know how to synergise with each other and all of that jazz." Enrique suggested. He grabbed out a suspicious-looking item from his pocket. It looked like some special pile of luminous block. "I kind of... stole this a couple days back, use it to fly quickly back down south."

"Star bits? It's not how they work." Rosalina complained back at him, making Jack and Tom burst in to laughter.

"Oh well, do your flying thing and go back and train, you have the potential to win this and beat Bowser." Enrique said once again.

"Beating Bowser..." She said slowly. "Is it really the best thing to do?"

"Come on." Tom got up and quickly grabbed Rosalina to escort her out of the room. "Time for you to practice!" He led her out of the great hall and around a corner where the two could not be heard. "Just practice on your own, you don't need her. Besides, she's not going to get in the way of your skill." He whispered.

"I'm capable of racing anyway now." She replied shortly before being shoved out of the building. Tom quickly closed up the doors behind her and ran back to the great hall. Rosalina sighed before departing Aypyidaw yet again...

**EOC: I would say this chapter is bulky despite being the least Canon-oriented. Either way, tension is rising in all parts of the world and important events are going to occur real soon.**

**Any queries, write a review or DM, check my profile description for any information / lore as well related to the whole set of fanfics.**

**See you next chapter!**

**Author's Note:**

> EOC: Updated notes post-chapter coming soon.


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